


The Secrets We Keep

by Scripting_Rainbows



Category: Big Bang (Band), DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Attempted Sexual Assault, Blackmail, Forced Prostitution, Implied Mpreg, Infertility, Kidnapping, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Sexual Content, keeping secrets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-12 00:00:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scripting_Rainbows/pseuds/Scripting_Rainbows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Towards the end of the 13th Century a disease spread across the globe infecting and killing the female population. Having to quickly adapt or risk the extinction of the human race, the remaining males evolved allowing some to bear children to replace their lost female counterparts.</p>
<p>Now, in modern times, the world has settled into its new roles. Yet the survival of the human race has turned society into a reproductive focused force to be reckoned with, shunning those who are unable to contribute to the greater task. The stigmata of infertility driving it's sufferers into exile or even execution if their secrets come out.</p>
<p>The life of an idol is one destined to be in the public eye, no chance of ever having a private life or keeping secrets from being emblazoned across the media. But since the age of 14 Seungri has kept a secret hidden from even his closest friends--a secret that could not only cost him his career, but his very life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Know Your Secret

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second fanfic I've managed to start since my depression crippled my inspiration and built the worlds largest Writer Block fortress.
> 
> The idea is a little different for me, but I hope it's good and readable and I hope you like it as much as I did writing it for once. It's been a long time since I've gotten real enjoyment out of writing.
> 
> I know the use of "Implied Mpreg" in the tags may put people off, but I promise no one is going to actually be pregnant or getting pregnant etc. If it's a focus on a character getting pregnant and giving birth that squicks you out then don't worry about this fic. The only mention of Mpreg is the general observation that it's become biologically possible and there might be the odd vague mention of them seeing someone pregnant, but NONE of the main characters will be getting pregnant or getting each other pregnant, or suspected pregnant etc. So if just a broad mention of it doesn't squick you out then you should be okay with this fic.
> 
> This whole thing is Beta'd by my wonderful Appa In Law: [Eternalxmemorie](http://eternalxmemorie.livejournal.com/)

Stroking his fingers nervously around the rim of his laptop, Seungri played with the smooth chrome-coloured plastic as he contemplated opening it up. His fingers shaking slightly every time they brushed over the centre latch, making it click loudly in the silence of his waiting room as it sprung back and forth beneath his touch. Casting a discreet glance from beneath his eyelashes into the dresser table mirror he was currently perched in front of, ensuring he was definitely alone, Seungri cautiously slid the latch open properly and prised open the lid; peering paranoid over his shoulder and scanning the full dressing room as the computer rebooted itself. Not quite trusting the view in his reflection and needing to reassure himself that all the staff members had, indeed left to go work on whichever artist was up after him.

The sudden chime of his laptop as it automatically logged in had him jerking embarrassingly in his seat. Biting into his lightly glossed lower lip, he refused to accept the sharp pitched noise had left his own mouth as he span back round. Hunching forward slightly - as much as he dared with the tightness of his costume – not wanting the risk of an unexpected visitor spotting his webpage from a distance; Seungri cast one more fleeting glance at the dressing room door as he double clicked on his web browser. Fingers hovered over the keyboard in a moment’s hesitation before they started typing; in a rather aggressively violent way, in the search bar before he all but slammed his finger into the ‘enter’ key.

_When do Omegas become fertile?_

Curling closer to his laptop and clicking on the first result that popped up; resisting the urge to hug the screen, having to remind himself he’d now triple checked he was alone in the dressing room, Seungri drummed his fingers against the table edge, nails clicking against the wood, leg bouncing beneath him as he waited impatiently for the page to load for the fourth time that day. Each earlier attempt at searching had been rudely interrupted, to the point Seungri was almost convinced someone was monitoring his search history and didn’t want him to get the information he sought.

First his Hyung Jiyong living in the neighbouring apartment of their companies living complex had burst in, in a panic after his flat-mate had used up all the hot water again, tripping over his words as he begged all but on his knees for Seungri to lend him his shower. And Seungri had not dared to reopen his laptop he’d slammed shut in reflex until long after the other had left; by which point he himself needed to get ready or risk being late for his Manager.

His second attempt had almost succeeded. After finding a nice quiet spot in the corner of the rehearsal studio whilst the choreographer ran Youngbae – another Hyung of his – through his new routine, Seungri had just started to read his chosen webpage when a mass of sweat soaked spikes and glistening muscles had suddenly leant over the top of his laptop in an attempt to see what he was looking up. Seungri had yelped and slammed the computer shut so fast Youngbae hadn’t managed to get his nose out of the way in time and had spent the rest of the morning sporting a deep red scratch down the mid-point of his face from where the latch had snagged against him.

The third and final attempt, before Seungri had given up until he could be sure he wouldn’t be interrupted, had been in his opinion the worst. He had finally found somewhere quiet, uninhabited and without any foreseeable risk of interruption, and actually succeeded in getting his webpage open and the first few lines read when his whole laptop had crashed and the screen had frozen. Right on the top of the webpage, title bold and begging to be noticed by unwanted people, and Seungri had known that no one he took it to for help wouldn’t not read what he was trying to read and that would have led to questions he’d prefer never to answer. It had taken a tirade of tearful curses, frustrated slamming of the keyboard and every key shortcut he could think of and threats to throw the device through the twelfth storey window of the building before he’d remembered to take the battery out and let it cut off before reattaching the battery and restarting all over again.

Realising the webpage had fully loaded, Seungri steadily scrolled down the page for a while to make sure nothing was at risk of freezing again – not that he could blame the poor thing after the way he’d slammed it shut repeatedly and used it as a Hyung abuse dispenser – Seungri finally settled down to start reading.

_In the case of Omegas, not much is known about their biological re-construction or how they came to be in existence. Most information is purely academic or scholarly theory, and what factual evidence exists is so badly documented that only a vague timeline of evolution is available; less so then that of the Alphas or Betas. What is now led to be accepted as the most likely of theories for the skip in evolution into its current dynamics is that prior to the Joseon Dynasty, a disease started to spread across the Peninsula from the West infecting Females – most died. Those who survived were rendered infertile and abandoned by Heir seeking men._

_Believed to have been contracted in the West due to unsanitary and non-professional abortions, this disease was passed on to men through sexual intercourse yet seemed to have no effect on the male, who then passed it on to other women with no knowledge of its existence. Those who had sexual intercourse and impregnated someone who intended to keep their child, passed the disease on genetically until the ratio of females in the world started to rapidly decline to the point of almost extinction as the disease spread._

Grimacing slightly as he read, Seungri shuddered at his imagination went into overdrive, images of crippled and mutilated women and children in traditional clothing dropping dead where they stood floating round his mind, riding the steadily rising wave of nausea until he scrolled on, skipping slightly and carried on reading.

_Whilst many scientists believe the disease which rendered females infertile had the opposite effect on men as the strands of the disease evolved, many nature activists claim that the disease was a curse and punishment for the cruel abortion of life in the west and once the female race had been all but rendered extinct the human race had, had to evolve rapidly in an attempt at adapting to survive._

_The first recorded existence of Omegas does not occur for another two centuries, but accounts found suggest that their evolution had not been simple. Many males who had evolved into the first Omegas were not biologically ready or strong enough to become pregnant and survive. Most suffered miscarriage, internal haemorrhaging or died in childbirth, and once again, the existence of the human race rapidly declined with the new Omegas all but dying out._

_This lead to the existence of what is known in modern day terms as Betas. With the death of most Omegas, and the need to survive imminent, the weaker Alphas – since recent research has shown Alphas are, and always have been, able to adapt and bear children if necessary to survival – became Omegas in an attempt to continue the human race. Now known as Betas, these males are stronger than Omegas, but weaker than Alphas and in Modern society act as peace keepers and protectorate between the two ranks._

Realising he’d just wasted five minutes reading stuff he’d learnt back in Elementary School from the moment he was old enough to understand just what it meant to be either an Alpha, Beta or Omega, Seungri groaned and barely stopped himself from running his fingers through his hair in frustration, scrolling further down the page quickly, eyes flitting as they searched for some kind of keyword, a sign that would indicate what he was looking for.

_…Males discover what rank they will become as they go through puberty, the change in hormones having a biological effect on…_

Nope.

_…When an Omega goes into heat, they release pheromones that attract the Alphas and draw them into mating with them, the strength of the pheromones a clear signal as to how fertile an Omega is, and often: the stronger the scent of pheromones, the most Alphas the Omega will draw in wishing to mate. However, Betas are not effected by an Omegas heat cycle…_

Not quite. But almost.

_….An Omega normally becomes fully fertile, and therefore about to start their monthly heat cycles once they have reached pubescent maturity. Normally around the age of nineteen, however it is not uncommon for an Omega to reach full fertility level as young as fourteen or as old as twenty five…_

Ah Ha! He’d found it.

_However, in recent decades, more and more reports have been made about Omegas never reaching fertility level. It is believed that if a male biologically designed to become an Omega is taken or ‘tainted’ sexually by an Alpha or Beta before they have reached their sexual maturity, these Omegas are rendered permanently infertile. There is currently no known way to reverse this infertility much like the curse of the females, and many infertile Omegas are shunned and exiled from their local communities and abandoned to face discrimination, stigmatism and neglect._

Swallowing heavily, Seungri sat back in his chair and stared unseeing at his reflection in the dressing room mirror, eyes glazed over as he paled rapidly, the words still revolving around his head as they snapped and snarled viciously in his mind’s ear. He’d known almost everything written in the article he’d just read, everyone in the now Male only world knew of it all, taught their history from as early an age as possible. Yet he’d hoped for something this time when he’d discovered the new webpage had been set up, hoped to whatever greater power had control over the earth that they’d finally discovered a cure for infertility in Omegas, that they’d finally found something so he could stop hiding away for fear of being cast out as a backward mutation. But nothing. He was still hopeless, still having to hide in shame of himself in case anyone found out the truth, that he was still infertile.

He’d only been twelve when it had happened. To start puberty so young was rare and his two Father’s had been so excited about what he was going to be once he’d fully matured, the younger the child started puberty the more powerful an Alpha they became, the more controllable a Beta they grew up to be, or the more fertile an Omega they were. It hadn’t even been a year before he’d reached his thirteenth birthday and he’d woken up with a sharp pain in his stomach and staggered to the bathroom only to realise his hips were starting to feel tender, a sign they were shifting to increase safety for future children he’d be growing. He’d hobbled downstairs, and barely managed to reach the kitchen before his Father’s had worked out what he was, the pair of them so proud of their blossoming little Omega, fussing over him until he’d felt better enough to go visit his friend with the good news. His friend he hadn’t wanted to admit having a small crush on since he’d started Elementary School a few years after said friend. A friend who was already most of the way into his maturity as an Alpha.

Jerking out of his memories at the sudden sharp knock on his dressing room door, Seungri barely heard the five minute call as he shook himself rapidly, scattering the memories from the forefront of his mind, hands shaking violently as he closed the webpage and triple-deleted his browsing history before staggering to his feet. He hadn’t thought back on his childhood in a long while, he’d always looked back on his naivety and blind stupidity with disgust and self-hatred, his stupid eager need to please having rendered him permanently infertile when he’d shown so much promise beforehand. His Father’s had abandoned him shortly after the truth came out, he’d tried to hide it but his growing signs had slowed dramatically and his Omega Father had badgered him, worried out of his mind that their son was sick, for almost three months before Seungri had broken down and told him the truth; that he’d been tainted by an Alpha well before his puberty had matured enough. The fall out had been huge, Seungri physically thrown from his house in disgust, publically humiliated in his home village, only spared being beaten to death in disgrace by his Alpha Father because his Omega one had begged for him to simply be exiled.

Seungri had ran at that point, barely half way to fourteen years old, left to try and survive through the hunger and the cold and the stigmatism of his infertility. Everywhere he’d gone, his shame seemed to have followed him, like a branded mark tattooed into his forehead, until he’d somehow snuck his way onto a bus taking him up to the Capital, hoping the distance would at least hinder his stigmatism from following him for a while.

It hadn’t been long after that, that he’d been approached; shivering and ragged on the street corner, starving and sick, with a less then savoury proposition by a man at least four times his weight and height and wearing enough gold jewellery the collective shimmer almost blinded the young Omega. And Seungri had accepted it – what better to use as a prostitute then an Omega who couldn’t bear children? – Even going as far as to organising a time and place the next day for the man to collect him and take him to his new lodgings and work place. He couldn’t see any other option back then, convinced no one would care about some homeless infertile child enough to want to rescue him from the streets, at least as a prostitute he would have had a roof over his head, food, and a bed.

He’d been rocking on his heels on his street corner when he’d been approached by another as he waited to be collected. The man, with his odd hats and even odder tone of voice had seemingly ignored the state living on the streets had left him in and offered him safety, a decent place to live with friendly neighbours and colleagues, with a legitimate job as a model that he would get actual wages for.

Seungri hadn’t had to think twice; and had left with the strange short man who simply requested for the young Omega to refer to him as ‘Papa YG’ or merely ‘Papa’ just as his pimp had turned up to collect his new toy to play with. Once cleaned up and well fed, Seungri, now wrapped up in the warmest clothes he’d had in almost a year had shuffled back into his new bosses lounge and sat down, only to have the man’s offer of a job change. Apparently he’d overheard Seungri singing to himself in the shower, and wanted to train him up and turn him into a star, eagerly getting his other ‘boys’ round to try and convince him, and Seungri had found himself being introduced to Jiyong, Seunghyun, Youngbae and Daesung, the first pair a rap duo, and the second two a solo singer and variety show host respectively. All of them bright eyed and eager to meet this potential new member to their company team, the four still young and sheltered enough by this man they all called ‘Papa’ that they never even thought to question where Seungri had suddenly come from.

That had been nearly ten years ago. Now Seungri was an accomplished solo artist known for his slender, slightly effeminate frame and face, his equally soft voice and cute behaviour, but more predominantly for his ability to switch on stage into every Alphas sexual fantasy that danced like he’d been taught by the devil himself.

Feeling a sudden warmth clamp down on his shoulder, Seungri blinked rapidly out of his musings and turned to see who had managed to sneak up on him whilst he’d been lost in the horrors of his past, his hearing normally enough to snap him out of looking like the broken child he’d once been for his own safety. What he wasn’t expecting though, was the familiar mass of again sweaty spikes and limbs standing a few inches shorter than himself, eyes crinkled into happy crescents behind the faded lenses of his sunglasses he insisted he wore despite the fact he was inside and it was late evening.

“Bae Hyung?” Seungri muttered slowly, confused as to why his Hyung wasn’t in his own dressing room having clearly just finished his performance and – judging by his lack of shirt and the hand-sized smudges amongst the sheen of sweat, some accessorised with slight scratches – been rescued from the over-enthusiastic Omega’s desperate to mate with him.

“Ri, Y-…damn you were miles way...- They’ve been trying to get your attention banging on the door for the past few minutes. You need to run or you’re going to be late on stage.” Youngbae explained, voice slow as if trying to explain rocket science to a child. “Go on then!” he threw in for good measure when the Omega simply blinked three times at him, moving to shove Seungri in the back repeatedly until the younger Omega was forced jerkily out of the room.

“Why d- will you quit it?! – Why didn’t anyone come in and get me before you?” Seungri questioned, spinning out of Youngbae’s reach as he went to shove him once again, regretting asking such a stupid question the moment the last syllable left his lips, watching as Youngbae’s eyebrows rose slowly above his sunglasses. Of course he knew why.

“…You know why. You’re an Omega, Papa banned all Alphas and Betas except himself and us four from entering your room if you’re alone or without permission unless it’s a medical emergency potentially life or death related.” Youngbae recited from the company rules, parroting their President’s tone of voice. Rules from all those years ago when they’d first set about creating the necessary safety arrangements for the only Omega in the company. A set of rules all of his Hyungs had no issues in reciting paragraphs of word for word the moment Seungri queried one of his restrictions.

The President had never questioned just why Seungri had been on the streets, so the Omega had never risked explaining about how he was infertile in case his golden opportunity for a new start was ripped out from under him. However, on the odd occasion in meetings, Seungri had often found himself convinced the President knew the truth from the way he was observed, ‘Papa’s’ eyes dark as he queried whether Seungri had any news for him, and always seemed disappointed when he launched into a ridiculously elaborate tale complete with hand gestures and re-enactments of something his Hyungs had done the other day. 

Seungri still had the odd brief moments of a heat cycle, being infertile didn’t stop his body releasing pheromones within a week if he didn’t take the suppression pills every day. Often, round the time he should be in heat, Seungri found the pills didn’t work as well and he’d find himself releasing slightly dampened pheromones if he didn’t top up his medication. These few moments a week brought him hours of amusement as he watched Youngbae, Jiyong and Seunghyun; all three of them Alphas, quickly cover their mouths and noses and run from the room when Seungri failed to notice the change. Before whichever one of them was feeling the bravest came back briefly to throw his suppression tablets at his head, t-shirt pulled dramatically over their noses as they yelled muffled demands for him to take a top up, all the while their eyes burning dangerously into the side of Daesung’s face as the Beta happily sat beside Seungri completely unaffected.

It had been a sense of morbid curiosity that had, had Seungri start researching into his infertility. He vaguely remembered hearing rumours when he was a child about an infertile Omega living in his village and how the adults had whispered that he was destined to be alone since no Alpha or Beta would want them, and would never become attracted to them as they did not go into heat and couldn’t have children. Indeed, all of Seungri’s previous research had said much the same thing: Infertile Omega’s didn’t need Heat Repressing pills as they didn’t go into heat at all. Yet Seungri, after carefully watching his Hyungs around the week of his heat, still had a clear heat pattern to contend with.

That fact alone had spearheaded his research attempts into whether an Omega could regain their fertility, his chest tightening in hope each time he seemed to find something related, before his heart shattered slightly every time he realised it was just the exact same information he’d read time and time again. A case like his had either never happened, or never been recorded officially, but Seungri couldn’t risk asking anyone for help with his career balancing on the fact no one could find out in case he was cast back to the streets.

The sudden appearance of his frazzled Manager; a rather soft centred Beta who Seungri had taken a shining to once they’d been introduced at the start of his trainee days and, had requested to be assigned to Seungri when he made his debut the year previous, had Seungri bowing a full ninety degrees as the man looked close to breakdown. Letting his Manager – who looked torn between berating Seungri for his tardiness and kissing Youngbae for managing to get him out of said tardy ways – drag him away to the stage area, Seungri shook his head until it cleared of thoughts. He couldn’t afford distractions now, it was the comeback stage for his second album.

And indeed, as the backing track started and Seungri sauntered in a way that straddled the line between cute and sexual in a way that only he could do, any thoughts about his secrets were forgotten as he started to sing, playing around with his microphone as he danced around the stage; the white satin of his fitted stage suit making him nothing more than a subtle display buffet for all the Alphas cheering in the audience.

Yet, unlike Youngbae, Seungri was never allowed close enough for the Alphas to touch, as he gave a final bow and disappeared off down the stage stairs. None of them got a chance to grab at him or suggest stopping his suppressants for them with all the subtlety of a brick to the face, a leer on their own, just as repulsive as their wandering fingers. The moment he disappeared from view into the shadows, Seungri found himself flanked by his own preferred bunch of Alphas; Jiyong marching ahead of him, acting every bit like the possessive diva most believed him to be. Seunghyun bringing up the rear as the last line of defence, more intimidating with a simple look and word of warning then most were with their fists. All the while Youngbae kept close to his side after throwing a towel over his head, proceeding to attempt to pat the Omega dry with another smaller one.

It was a well-rehearsed scenario that the company President had organised to ensure nothing happened to their precious youngest. His three Hyungs – or even four if Daesung happened to be presenting on the show he was performing on – all working like clockwork to get him back to his dressing room and changed into his own clothes before most of the staff had even registered the Omega leaving the stage.

“Way to go Ri!” Youngbae cheered as they finally got the Omega back into his own clothes and settled down with a water bottle to await his Manager’s approval so he could go home, the shorter Alpha full of endless energy and dancing in the middle of the dressing room, in what Seungri assumed was his own take on Seungri’s own choreography.

“That was an amazing comeback, well done. I’m proud of you, you did well.” Jiyong stated much more sedately as he perched on the sofa next to the youngest, Seunghyun elegantly spread across the arm and back of the sofa, a simple nod and hum of agreement his only contribution. “I’m sure Daesungie-yah will have much to say about it once he realises you’re home and he comes running from his floor.”

“Thanks Hyung.” Seungri answered, still slightly out of breath from a combination of his performance and laughing at Youngbae’s dancing as it got steadily more and more exaggerated and less like the smooth and sharp moves Seungri used. “Bae Hyung! You’re ruining it!” he added with a chuckle, ducking swiftly as the Alpha simply span round mid-move and threw the sweat-dampened towel that had been patting at Seungri’s skin at him.

It was moments like this that made Seungri forgot the dark secrets of his past. Made him feel like he was a normal Omega just waiting to find a mate, not some socially detestable reminder of the lost female race. His body was filled with laughter and a strange sense of contentment and belonging as he was dragged rather unceremoniously off the sofa by a hyperactive Youngbae demanding they dance together. All the while Jiyong fluctuated between cheering them on and berating Youngbae for overworking the clearly exhausted Maknae, before the now giggling pair dragged him up to join in. And as if like clockwork, the moment the dancing duet became a trio, Seunghyun slid off his perch on the arm of the sofa onto the actual cushions and refused to be moved again. Any attempts at getting him to dance met with a glare that would make the world’s most dangerous men crumble in fear.

Seungri wasn’t an idiot though, he knew that the moment his Hyungs found out he was infertile, and a tainted Omega, their adoration and protective guardianship would disappear. It wasn’t in an Alphas nature to take care of that which couldn’t produce children, without his fertility Seungri was little more than an empty vessel or toy to satisfy a slight itch with. Within hours of them finding out he would back on the streets after they demanded ‘Papa’ throw him out or he’d be a risk to the company. The week wouldn’t even be over before he’d be back where he was ten years ago; his only future in prostitution or some warped form of animal testing.

The trios, now rather impromptu dance, stopped suddenly as the door to Seungri’s dressing room was forced open. The four inhabitants barely caring as they enjoyed their weird form of celebration until the scent of an unfamiliar Alpha washed across the room. Before he could even cover his nose to muffle the scent, Seungri found himself roughly shoved behind Youngbae’s back as the rap duo stood guard, the Omega almost choking on the sudden shift in hormones as the three Alphas made their possessive protective position known.

“Who the hell do you think you are?! I want your name, role and employer and unless you speak within five seconds of my asking I will make sure you are thrown out on your disrespectful ass and never employed again!” Jiyong snapped, teeth audibly clacking as he clamped his jaws shut, a decorative ending to his speech. The four of them had not bothered to check who had entered the room, no one was allowed in except a select list. And the only ones on the list who weren’t already in the room were Daesung, Seungri’s Manager and the Company President. They had simply assumed it was one of them until the unfamiliar scent had registered.

“I…I work as General staff. I-I just started today! Please…I’m sorry…I was told to come tell Seungri he was allowed to leave. I-I knocked on the door and everything!” the man spluttered, Seungri peeking curiously from round Youngbae’s shoulder as the elder finally stopped trying to block his view, distracted by the new worker. For an Alpha he wasn’t much to look at, Seungri could tell he was barely above Beta level, so skinny and all joints, to the point he made Jiyong look bulky. Floppy, matted hair, beady eyes that never stopped moving, chewed fingers and skin so pale it looked white. He reminded Seungri of a rat and he couldn’t deny he was slightly relieved his Hyungs had been here with him.

“You are supposed to knock until someone answers the door. Then you do not cross into this room unless explicitly invited and there are more than three people in the room. You should have been informed of our company rules and the direct disregard you are showing will not be without consequence, do I make myself clear?” It was Seunghyun that spoke this time, his voice deep with an underlying growl of disgust as he drew himself to his full intimidating height. “Now you can tell your Boss Seungri has been notified and is leaving with his Hyungs. And unless you leave within the next three seconds you will find you will never make it to work tomorrow.” He added, voice low and upholding every threatened syllable, a small step forward all the unknown Alpha needed to turn on his heel and disappear from the room. But not before his eyes locked with Seungri’s for a slight moment; too fast for his Hyungs to spot, irises darkening and pupils dilating in a sign of definite anger, the Omega able to pick up on the disappointment and resentment dripping from the bitter male before he vanished.

“Youngbae.” Jiyong snapped, as if the one name had taken extreme effort, eyes still fixed on the doorway. “Take Seungri home. Ring Daesung and Papa, we’re going to go see the floor Manager to see who the fuck that was.” He added, Seunghyun not even blinking in surprise that he was been dictated for.

“Come on Ri.” Youngbae murmured, arms still locked securely around the Omegas frame as Seunghyun grabbed Seungri’s coat and draped it over the youngest male’s shoulders, making sure the Maknae had everything he needed before stepping back.

And as Youngbae led him quickly through the backstage area and out into the car park where Seungri’s manager was stood already waiting with the car, a concerned frown on his face; Seungri couldn’t shake the thought that he’d been the object of intensive scrutiny as he’d left, their stares unwavering in their hold and negative connotations. Seungri unable to squirm out of the wave of disgust and contempt that seemed to have clung to him more and more as he’d passed, fingers shaking as he climbed into the car as he realised he’d not seen a single staff member he was familiar or comfortable with on his exit.

Yet nothing compared to the wave of panic and nausea that engulfed him as they arrived home and Seungri finally checked his phone; Daesung already there, hopping impatiently on Seungri’s doorstep after Youngbae had made a few phone calls on the way home. He’d felt his phone vibrate in his jeans pocket in the car; but having assumed it was Jiyong with an update on the rogue staff member, Seungri had not bothered trying to wrestle the mobile out of his pocket from his curled up position against Youngbae’s side.

He was glad he hadn’t now. His phone flashed with a message from an unknown number, and as he unlocked the device and opened the message, Seungri felt his throat tighten as he discovered he’d been sent the same thing over and over again ever since he’d left his dressing room to go on stage until he’d gotten into the car just a while ago, each one barely thirty seconds after the previous.

_I know your secret.- <3_


	2. A Walking Controversy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read, commented and left kudos on this. I wasn't expecting much response. But thank you anyway. Since I'm self medicating my depression with my fics, it always makes me feel better when it's appreciated by others what I do.

The warm bowl of freshly made instant Ramen noodles topped with Kimchi nearly went clattering to the floor as Seungri’s phone chimed for a new incoming text message. It had been almost a week since he’d first been bombarded with the same message over and over again, but the lingering sense of nauseating paranoia refused to leave his system. Someone knew his secret, someone knew he was infertile and gloated about it to him and Seungri was trapped helplessly waiting to see what would happen next. Whoever it was had played their hand in the game, with Seungri’s very life as the sweepstake, and Seungri was left unable to do anything but await their next move.  
  
As his phone chimed again, vibrating across the kitchen table in an automatic reminder to its owner that there was an unread message waiting, at the exact moment someone’s large fist pounded against his front door so hard the metal shook under the force of it, Seungri actually did drop the bowl. The crockery slipped through his trembling fingers as the sudden symphony of noise caused him to jump in terror with a sharp yelp. The bowl shattering upon impact and splashing noodles, soup and kimchi across the tiles as well as Seungri’s feet whilst the young Omega trembled, physically crippled in place by his imagination as he started to imagine all sorts of horrors awaiting him outside.  
  
“RI?! RI!!” So caught up in his imagination, his mind-self currently being dragged away by Alphas with torches and pitchforks to be executed in the middle of the streets for a crowd of onlookers, Seungri failed to hear the front door being unlocked, or someone running through the apartment in search of him, too concerned to pause and remove their shoes in their haste to get to him. In fact, until Youngbae crashed through the doorway to the kitchen, ricocheting off the framework as he failed to stop in time, Seungri didn’t register anything except the slight burn of his feet still covered in noodles and soup.  
  
“RI! I-oh my God what happened?! Are you okay? Have you hurt yourself?!” Youngbae spluttered as he found a pale, visibly shaken Omega stood in the midst of ceramic shards and instant noodles.  
  
“B-Bae Hyung?” Seungri managed to croak before the elder stepped across and scooped him up into his arms with slightly disconcerting ease, carrying him through to the bathroom and setting him atop the counter next to the sink. Not saying a word as he grabbed a washcloth, pausing only to soak it beneath the tap before he gently grasped Seungri’s ankle, lifting his foot and wiping away the residue of Seungri’s ruined lunch in soft careful swipes.  
  
“What happened Ri?” Youngbae queried as he kept hold of Seungri’s ankle and raised his foot higher to check the sole for any signs of injury from the broken bits of bowl. Apparently not registering as the action caused Seungri to slide down the counter slightly, before just as gently letting his leg down and moving onto the other to do the same thing once more.  
  
“I…well…you…”Seungri barely managed to mutter brokenly as he held onto the edge of the counter tightly, too distracted by his Hyung’s actions to really form a proper response. The fact Youngbae had started to clean his feet and check for injuries wasn’t exactly new to Seungri, the exact actions had not happened before, but all of his Hyungs—more predominantly Youngbae—had a habit of checking him for injuries or taking it as a personal task to clean and smarten him up constantly. No, what had caused Seungri’s sudden inability to speak had been when Youngbae raised his foot higher to check for injuries. The movement had naturally forced Seungri’s legs apart as he’d slipped down, and the Omega had found himself for all point and purpose pinned in place against the counter, leant back against the wall, legs spread with Youngbae all but between his thighs against him, one leg held high in his grasp, almost level with his shoulder forcing Seungri’s body to be all but bent in half to accommodate.  
  
“Me?” Youngbae echoed, catching on to the last word Seungri managed to splutter, not seeming to register the slightly awkward literal position he’d put the younger male in. “Oh! You dropped it when I knocked on the door didn’t you? I’m sorry… I didn’t think, I was a bit excited I forgot about last week.”  
  
Seungri had been too preoccupied with imagining how the situation would look right now should one of his other Hyungs turn up to visit to do anything else other than nod meekly as Youngbae spoke. Mentally hoping it was Seunghyun or Daesung and not Jiyong who did so, knowing that, that way at least Youngbae would get a chance to explain why it looked like he was moments away from rutting against Seungri’s ass before he was ripped to pieces.  
  
Yet at the mention of last week, Seungri felt his breath catch in his throat as he panicked. Had Youngbae found out about the texting? The moment he’d read the messages, Seungri had deleted everything and blocked the number, but over the week, after each appearance on TV for an interview or comeback performance, Seungri had returned to his dressing room to find his phone plagued with much the same messages from a different unknown number every time.  
  
 _I know your secret - <3_  
  
Your whole career is a lie - <3  
  
I could ruin you right now. - <3  
  
Which was always followed moments afterwards by:  
  
 _But you’re already ruined aren’t you? - <3_  
  
If they found out about you, they wouldn’t hold you like that. You’d disgust them. - <3  
  
That final one had been sent the night previous, just as Seungri stepped into the car to be driven home by his Manager. As always he’d performed last on the show, but as a special end of season event instead of disappearing off stage, his three Alpha Hyungs had joined him on stage for an impromptu remix performance of his comeback solo. He and Youngbae had harmonised easily, both getting through the choreography with well-rehearsed ease as the rap duo slouched around throwing the odd ad lib rap into the mix. It had been a strange experience performing in a group, the four of them had never done it before but had clearly enjoyed it as the three Alphas finished and crowded around the Omega and embraced him. All of them keeping their arms round him in some way until the cameras had been turned off and filming announced as finished.  
  
It had been nice. His three Alpha Hyungs always managed to make him feel protected and safe and helped him ignore the dark shadow of his past that lingered in the back of his mind. But that text had ruined his evening and left him feeling more paranoid than ever, unable to sleep, expecting with every sound of movement for his Hyungs to break the door down and demand to know why he’d lied to them.  
  
No matter how many times Seungri blocked numbers and fiddled with the settings on his phone to try and stop unknown numbers contacting him, the messages still kept coming through. In fact that day; being Seungri’s day off, had been the only day when his phone had not been bombarded before lunch. But with Youngbae’s words, his panic was steadily getting towards exploding point. How had Youngbae found out? And more importantly had he seen the sort of messages he’d been getting and why they’d put Seungri in such a state? The Omega could almost feel his life being ripped away from under him to leave him to sink into the black abyss of Seoul’s back alleys.  
  
“I mean…I’m so used to just knocking and barging my way in when you’re too stubborn to wake up in the morning that I forgot the same thing happened last week with that staff worker at the TV studio.” Youngbae hummed, having apparently missed Seungri’s endless moment of panic as he continued speaking, now gently running his thumb along the arch of the Omega’s foot searching for any splinters of broken crockery. “I’ll make sure to ring you from now on okay? So you know I’m coming down from my own apartment.”  
  
“I…no, I mean…Its okay Hyung, my phone went off at the same time as you knocked. It just made me jump is all and I dropped the bowl.” Seungri finally managed to string a full sentence together, trying not to shiver as his Hyung’s fingers continued their gentle exploration of his feet. The moment Youngbae had carried on speaking, Seungri had felt his tension drain away along with the terror of his potential demise. He should have realised his Hyung was on about the unknown Alpha forcing his way into his dressing room, it was all the three Alpha Hyungs had been able to talk about. Between bringing Daesung up to date on what happened and demanding their Papa do something to make sure it never happened again, they had fussed and debated on just how and why it had happened in the first place until Seungri had tried to physically kick them all out of his apartment out of sheer desperation for peace and quiet.  
  
“Well…still, I’ll ring from now on anyway. Don’t need you going through your dishes like that.” Youngbae chuckled, eyes curving into slits as he did so, before his entire demeanour seemed to flip in an instant. “Now come on, I have some news for you!” He added, suddenly excited as he recollected the younger male into his arms and carried him back to the main room, setting Seungri down on the sofa to rest before going off to clean the mess in the kitchen. “Stay there and rest, I’ll just quickly clean up and then I’ll tell you why I came round.”  
  
Unable to do anything else, Seungri blinked rapidly as he watched Youngbae finally kick off his own shoes and pad back into the kitchen to clean up, humming softly to himself as he worked. Despite everything he was used to regarding his Hyungs, Seungri still couldn’t seem to fathom how Youngbae managed to go from serious and protective to a hyperactive puppy within mere moments, the Omega still trying to comprehend what had just happened in the Bathroom and how he’d ended up in the Lounge again so fast by the time the Alpha was already picking pieces of bowl off the floor.  
  
The Omega had almost forgotten about his phone messages at this point. Sprawled across the sofa trying to ignore the lingering tingle of the nerves in his feet as he listened to the bustling symphony of work as it filtered out from the kitchen underlying Youngbae’s voice as he moved around. Before everything crashed back to reality as his phone went off once again as another message came through. Everything seemed to slow down as he heard Youngbae pause and get back to his feet, Seungri’s chest tightening with each step the Alpha took towards the table and his phone.  
  
Part of him wanted to throw himself towards the kitchen in hopes of being able to tug the device out of his Hyung’s hands before he could read the text message, but he knew that would only make things suspicious. If Seungri was honest, he wasn’t sure what would be worse; his Hyung finding out he was infertile, or being suspicious—and more importantly discussing these suspicions with Jiyong and the others—about whether he had a potential admirer and suitor trying to woo him via text.  
  
Nothing could have prepared him however, for the sense of dread turning to solid lead in his stomach as Youngbae reappeared in the doorway clutching his phone and frowning down at the screen. He thought he was going to be sick, any moment now Youngbae was going to look up at him with disgust and storm off to demand Seungri be taken away and gotten rid of, he could see it all in his head. The anger, the pain, the disgust. Being forced from the company back onto the streets, only to bump into his Hyungs many years later ragged, skeletal thin and with more viral diseases then a laboratory, wherein which they’d take the opportunity to beat him to death for his deception and imposing his filth on their persons.  
  
“Ri? What does ‘OCWP, INOC, BBAOTP, CKCT’ mean?” Youngbae queried, finally looking up from Seungri’s phone, the Omega momentarily taken aback by the open curiosity and softness in his Hyung’s eyes, imagination having a lot to answer for. As it registered what the Alpha had read off his phone, Seungri felt his heart rate slow once more, images of his execution receding to the back of his mind until next time as he realised who the message was from.  
  
“It means: Omega Café when possible, in need of caffeine, big bad Alpha on the prowl, contact Kyuhyun, can’t talk.” Seungri explained happily as he sat up, Youngbae automatically moving to perch next to him on the sofa as he handed the phone over. “It’s from Changmin. It’s our little code we made up for when the big bad Alpha is watching what he’s writing or is close by.” He added, as he quickly tapped out a coded response and sent it, keeping the application open for a few moments as he sensed Youngbae reading over his shoulder.  
  
“ATYM, CKNWKU, E:HA/CC,NA?” Youngbae read out loud from Seungri’s phone, the Omega chuckling softly as the male’s eyes all but disappeared as he frowned in confusion.  
  
“Ne, it’s a simple code really. My reply says: About thirty minutes, contacting Kyuhyun now will keep updated, Excuse: Having Alpha/Career crisis, need advice.” Seungri explained as he quickly tapped a properly formed message out and double tapped on Kyuhyun’s contact to send it to him before setting his phone back down and returning his full attention to his Hyung.  
  
“You two are a weird pair.” Youngbae muttered, lazily draping an arm around Seungri’s shoulders and reaching up to twist the mass of soft unkempt curls around his fingers. The whole thing more of a habit from across the years then an attempt at comfort. “Actually no, the three of you are a weird group. Kyuhyun is just as bad as the pair of you.”  
  
“I could say the same about you lot. What did you want to tell me Hyung? Because I need to head off to the Café soon so I can meet Changmin.” Seungri purred, eyes sliding closed as he automatically sank into Youngbae’s shoulder, knowing he’d have to move soon or risk never getting up to go meet his friend. It was always a weakness of his to have his hair played with, he almost melted the moment anyone’s fingers went anywhere near his curls, yet he could never recall whether he’d told his Hyung that, or whether it was simply instinctual on Youngbae’s part.  
  
“Oh! That!” Youngbae exclaimed, hand moving back from Seungri’s hair, almost making the Omega keen at the loss. “I got a call from Papa this morning when I went in for training, and he was really pleased with how our performance went last night and he said the response has been great! So…he was thinking, what if we did an actual collaboration. Me and you, a new single with the choreography and music video, performances and promotions etc. What do you think?”  
  
“A-A collaboration? With you?” Seungri echoed, sitting further upright and blinking three times in confusion. He’d not heard anything from their President when he’d phone that morning, the Paternal figure had simply congratulated the Omega on another round of positive promotions before he’d become distracted by one of his Bear bricks in his office not being in the correct place, and had promptly hung up, barely remembering to say goodbye.  
  
“Don’t sound too enthusiastic about it.” Youngbae muttered, the soft eyesmile that had shone across his features in excitement at the idea, steadily falling away as Seungri failed to leap around the same way he had. “We don’t have to. It was just an idea.”  
  
“A-Ani.” Seungri spluttered, belatedly registering how his knee-jerk response had sounded. He had queried the formation of the duo simply because his Hyung was far more talented and experienced then himself. Surely there where other’s for Youngbae to collaborate with? More talented and experienced them himself, or who’d known the Alpha longer? He hadn’t intended it to sound like he was against the idea. “I’d love to. But are you sure you want to? I’m not exactly as talented as you. What about Ji Hyung or Seunghyun Hyung?”  
  
Youngbae’s only response for a whole thirteen seconds was to stare at Seungri like he’d gone insane. And just as Seungri had considered shifting; feeling incredibly awkward under the unwavering unblinking gaze, Youngbae snapped and tightened his arm around Seungri’s shoulders and pulled him into a headlock one handed. The other burying fingers into his hair and ruffling the thick curls, Seungri’s squawks of protest lost under the elder’s laughter.  
  
“Why would I want to do a collaboration with them? They’re insane.” Youngbae hummed softly, once he’d finally relented and let the Omega up, trying not to chuckle as Seungri hastily tried to fix his hair, cheeks flushed. “Besides, can you imagine a group with three Alphas in it? Ji and Seunghyun Hyung get enough Omegas throwing themselves at them already. They’d likely explode if there were three of us.”  
  
“Oh.” Seungri blinked rapidly, fingers still trapped in his hair as he nodded. “I guess that makes sense. I’ll do it then, when are we starting?”  
  
“Really?! That’s great!” Youngbae laughed, suddenly full of energy once again, bouncing in his seat. “Papa wants to see us both tomorrow to discuss the details, but it’ll be great, it gets so boring being solo. We’ll have so much fun!” He rambled, as he bounced himself out of his seat and back onto his feet, already disappearing towards the door. “I’ll go let him know! You go see Changmin, this is going to be epic!”  
  
And with his incessant excited rambling as his parting shot, Youngbae disappeared out the door in a whirlwind of laughter, barely remembering to put his shoes on again. And as Seungri sat blinking in part amusement, part concern for his Hyung’s sanity, the Omega was positive he heard Youngbae bursting into Jiyong and Seunghyun’s apartment further down the floor with what sounded suspiciously like  _‘Ha! I’m doing a duet with Ri and you’re not!’_  
  
The idea of the duet was still playing on Seungri’s mind some twenty minutes later, as he pushed his way into the Omega Café down the street from his company apartment complex. He hadn’t known about this places existence until Daesung had pointed it out to him, and since then it had become his place of refuge when things got too much and he needed to sit and think. Which luckily was what he needed to do at the moment. He’d never broached the subject of featuring on one of his Hyung’s songs before, or indeed the other way round, the Omega too paranoid that in closer proximity than normal, for long periods of time, his infertility would be more obvious to his Alpha Hyungs.  
  
Waving at the owner behind the counter as he manoeuvred his way through the tables; the small, salt-and-pepper haired man having already started to make Seungri’s usual the moment the Omega came in, Seungri headed for the booth against the side window at the back. The café was light and welcoming, sat in the corner of a building block with both out facing walls made up of full length windows. But the best part about it was simply that it was for Omegas only. If an Alpha or Beta tried to get in, they soon found themselves being ejected by security, which meant the atmosphere and security was perfect for Omega idols who needed to escape from their fans.  
  
Reaching his usual table, Seungri smiled to himself as he found the seat opposite his own already filled. Despite it being an Omega only café, Seungri still tried to disguise himself beneath the traditional beanie hat, sunglasses and scarf most idols seemed to use when out in public. Yet currently perched elegantly at the opposite side of his table Changmin looked like he’d just stepped out of a photo shoot, all skinny designer clothes and hair perfectly tousled, a pair of equally designer sunglasses sat on the bridge of his nose as he sipped delicately at his drink. Apparently Changmin had discovered early on, with him being a lot taller than most; regardless of whether they were Alpha, Beta or Omega, it was pointless him trying to disguise himself as he was instantly recognisable by his height. And so had simply dressed how he wished with little thought for the consequences.  
  
“You’re keen. I said I’d be about thirty minutes.” Seungri chuckled as he sat down and set about removing all his extra items of clothing, eyes scanning across the already three empty mugs sat in front of his friend. “It must be bad. Any more caffeine and you’ll start to vibrate.”  
  
Seungri had been quite surprised when he’d met Changmin. The younger male had gone to the Television studios with his three Hyungs to watch their performances and to get a feel for the atmosphere ahead of his own debut which had been set for the next year. He’d been pretty much left to his own devices backstage whilst their President started to pre-organise precautions to ensure Seungri was going to be safe when he did eventually debut, and at some point one of the elder general staff members had seen him sat awkwardly playing with his backstage pass and had given him a chocolate bar to eat for something to do.  
  
He’d of course heard of Changmin before, the duo he was a part of where Jiyong and Seunghyun’s main rivals. Whenever both pairs released songs around the same time it was a constant battle to see who would win. But from what he’d heard from all of his Hyungs—Daesung included—Changmin was quiet and weird, his politeness verging on cold and despite being an Omega, often intimidated people a lot easier than Seunghyun could. So, sat with his chocolate bar, nibbling at the corner of it, the last thing Seungri had expected was for Changmin to sit down next to him and sniff at his chocolate almost longingly.  
  
Out of lack of knowing what to do next, Seungri had broken off the piece he’d been nibbling on and held the rest of the bar out to his fellow Omega. And without so much of a word, Changmin had snatched it eagerly and proceeded to chomp his way through it in record timing, moaning happily at the taste. Yet before he could say anything to Seungri, his Manager had appeared and whisked him away to makeup, complaining about how he’d gotten chocolate splinters all over his white suit and he wasn’t supposed to eat when he was in his stage outfits.  
  
Seungri had expected that to be the end of it, but just as he was about to climb into the van with his Hyungs to go back home after the show, Changmin had seemingly appeared from nowhere and given him a new chocolate bar, accompanied by a wide smile and a softly spoken thanks. Whilst his Hyungs had marvelled amongst themselves that, that was the first time they’d ever seen Changmin smile, Seungri had sat and eaten his chocolate bar content, and indeed the next time he ended up at the studios backstage, Changmin had appeared once more and spent all his free time talking away, nothing like the others had painted him.  
  
“I needed the caffeine. It’s the only thing stopping me from trying to mentally snap idiot’s necks.” Changmin grunted finally, sparing a slight twitch of his lips as the owner brought Seungri’s coffee over along with another for Changmin. “Big bad Alpha has been worse than ever lately.”  
  
The ‘big bad Alpha’ as Seungri and Changmin kept affectionately referring to him as, was Jung Yunho. He, along with Shim Changmin had debuted a few years before Seungri, and had quickly gained popularity as the first official duet to contain both an Alpha and an Omega. But since then they had been constantly caught up in mating and bonding rumours, every MV, photo shoot, interview and more always portraying the pair of them as a couple—much to Changmin’s chagrin.  
  
“What happened this time?” Seungri queried concerned as he sipped at his coffee. “Did they ask when you were having your mating ceremony again?” he added, lips quirking into a smirk at the traditional tease he always used to rile the elder up.  
  
“No.” Changmin huffed, causing the growing waves atop his head to flutter slightly as he did so. “Worse than that. They asked me when I was considering settling down and having children! I mean, the idiot gets asked about his dancing, about his rapping, about…well everything! I get  _‘so Changmin-sshi~ when are you going to start shooting out babies? You’re not getting any younger you know~’_  I’m absolutely sick of it.”  
  
“Well…what did you say?” Seungri hummed in question, tilting his head slightly, inwardly amused at how much his normally collected friend was flapping, yet knowing not to let his amusement show when the elder was so highly strung. “And why is the big bad Alpha been worse than normal?”  
  
“I normally say that I’m just focusing on my singing, or my usual more controversial answer.” Changmin chuckled, a small smirk curling against the edge of his lips. “But when they asked today, I just told them that all Children do is sleep, whine, eat and make a mess…and Yunho already does all that so why would I need a child?”  
  
The sip of coffee Seungri had just taken was almost sprayed across the table as Changmin spoke, the younger Omega having to quickly swallow the warm liquid before he choked on his laughter. He really needed to get used to Changmin’s quirks; or stop drinking when his best friend was talking.  
  
“I’m guessing he didn’t take that very well then?” he spluttered, rubbing at his burning throat as the elder simply readjusted himself and hummed, sipping his own drink.  
  
“Of course he didn’t. You know how much he loves playing up to the couple thing, I swear I’m going to chop his hands off if he tries to grope me in public anymore.” Changmin responded, setting his drink down, fingers visibly shaking from the overload of caffeine. “No, ignore that. If he tries to grope me at all I’m going to chop his fingers off, he’s a lot worse when we’re at home. And his suggestions get even more vulgar as well.”  
  
Before Seungri could voice his disgust and sympathy for the poor Omega stuck living in close proximity to an almost desperate Alpha, the pair were distracted by a sharp knocking against the window as a sudden shadow blocked their view of the street. A quick glance up from the pair revealing the wrapped up bundle of chestnut spikes and dark eyes waving rapidly at them through the window, pausing only to beckon them outside before they went back to waving.  
  
“…I was just about to ask if you’d contacted Kyuhyun.” Changmin chuckled as he swiftly downed the rest of his coffee and made to stand up, elegantly brushing himself off and fixing his hair with careful, well-practised fingertips. “I was close to suggesting a search party.” He added once the pair of them had stepped outside to where the newcomer was still bouncing on the balls of his feet.  
  
“Sorry I got delayed. I needed to finish a quest on my game, and then I got distracted by the next quest because I was doing really well and then one of my online buddies wanted me to send some items so I had to sort that out, and then before I realised it…I was running late.” Kyuhyun explained, as Changmin moved to almost squeeze him in half in a hug.  
  
The one thing his Hyungs had been correct about when Seungri had first mentioned his friendship with Changmin, had been that the elder Omega came in a package with Kyuhyun. Cho Kyuhyun, was about a week older than Changmin and almost as tall. A huge gaming nerd and wine lover, the Beta had been friends with Changmin for almost half their lives and was the main line of defence against anything Yunho related. So much so that not long after the duo had debuted, Changmin had hired Kyuhyun to be his personal assistant; to help wake him up in time, protect him, keep him company and make sure nothing was done without Changmin’s consent or comfortability, and who would always be there to pull him back when things got too much.  
  
However, the main thing Seungri found amusing about the pair of them was how oblivious they were. As an outsider it was clear for the little Omega to see the side glances and lingering touches, the way Kyuhyun’s hands automatically moved to protect Changmin despite the fact the tallest male could quite easily take care of himself, and the way Changmin allowed it to happen. With his size and personality, Changmin hated the automatic stigmatism that came with being an Omega; one of the many Seungri himself faced, Changmin hated that he was automatically assumed to be weak and submissive and in need of possessing and protecting. Yet Seungri always inwardly marvelled at how Kyuhyun managed to not only keep Changmin protected and psychologically mark him as off limits to others, but did so without hurting the tallest male’s pride or damaging his masculinity.  
  
“Come on, I thought we could go back to mine and play games or something.” Kyuhyun added a few moments later, dragging Seungri out of his thoughts. “Plus that way we won’t have to try and avoid Alphas or any lurking media trying to find a scandal.”  
  
“If there is wine involved I am agreeable.” Changmin muttered, already linking arms with Kyuhyun and Seungri, starting to eagerly walk off towards the eldest male’s apartment complex.  
  
“Same here!” Seungri laughed, the trio ignoring the strange looks they were getting from passers-by, either shocked by their familiarity or how tall the eldest pair were, before Seungri turned his attention solely to Changmin. “Although should you really be drinking if you have to go home to the big bad Alpha? Would it not be wiser to be sober and more alert?”  
  
“He’s not going home tonight, I heard the comment he gave and I’m not going to let him go home tonight to face Yunho-sshi. He can stay over until Yunho-sshi has calmed down enough. Otherwise we’ll be visiting him in hospital before tonight.” Kyuhyun responded before Changmin could even open his mouth, fingers tightening in reflex around the elder Omega’s arm as they walked, the concern about his closest friend evident in his normally cold eyes.  
  
Seungri guessed he was lucky in some ways. He had friends who were willing to go out of their way to help each other, and Kyuhyun had barely blinked at Changmin’s statement that he didn’t want children. It always gave him hope that should he ever get the courage to tell someone his deepest secrets, or—God forbid—it was ever released against his will, that at least he knew of two friends who would possibly stand by him. Changmin was already a walking controversy in himself for not wanting children, and the rational part of Seungri’s mind reasoned that to hate on Seungri for his infertility would be too hypocritical. Kyuhyun just seemed to do whatever Changmin wanted so as long as Changmin accepted him, Seungri knew that the eldest male would too.  
  
Now all he had to panic over was Youngbae finding out.


	3. Concepts Of Minimum Proximity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you for the views, Kudos and comments on this. I really hadn't expected such a response. But here is Chapter 3, I'm so happy with how easily this is writing at the moment, meaning I don't have to make you wait for years between chapters. Hopefully this will continue. Anyway...I hope this Chapter is okay and you like it.
> 
> Also...If anyone didn't know. David Bailey is a famous celebrity photographer.

Seungri had been pleasantly intoxicated, slumped across the polished wood flooring against the front of the sofa, fingers clutching his latest glass of wine as it sloped in his inebriated state, when the pounding at the front door started. Seungri; who had already changed into one of Kyuhyun’s t-shirts after Changmin had drunkenly fallen over him as he’d tried to step over his legs and spilt wine all over his shirt, jerked violently and splashed Red wine across his pants as he yelped.

Curling in on himself as the noise continued; whoever was outside, persistent and refusing to leave until someone granted them entry, Seungri whimpered, trying to blink through the slight haze over his vision as the panic started to constrict in his chest. The noise had failed to rouse the elder two, the pair having drank almost twice what Seungri had and promptly passed out mid-round on their latest video game. And no matter how many times the youngest kicked and nudged and hissed at his elders to wake up, to either answer the door or join him in his paranoia, they remained motionless.

“Hyung…Hyung wake up!” Seungri hissed once more, setting his wine glass down and flopping onto his hands and knees, crawling over to the elder pair and shaking their shoulders sharply. “Hyung there’s someone at your front door.” He added to Kyuhyun, lightly slapping at the man’s cheeks. Yet no matter what he tried, all he got in return for his efforts was annoyed whines as the pair curled up more to escape the wakening touches. And still the front door continued to take abuse.

Staggering to his feet, Seungri blinked nervously at the front door, the framework visibly concaving under the force of the visitor. Even from his spot in the middle of the room, Seungri could already feel the waves of anger and disgust radiating off whoever it was, and the young Omega suddenly wished he had at least one of his Hyungs nearby to come help him.

“-ngri…whoever that is tell them to fuck off.” Kyuhyun slurred from behind as he shifted, brows creased at the disturbance before he settled back down to sleep, face buried in Changmin’s hair.

Barely managing a nod—not that it mattered to the now, again unconscious man—Seungri shuffled to the front door, eyeing the metal as if it were a wild beast about to pounce, fingers shaking as they pressed against the cold steel, boosting himself up slightly as he tried to listen, tried to work out who was out there.

Realising there was little else he could do, Seungri carefully unlocked the door and pulled it open a slither, wedging himself between the door and the wall to peer out, poised ready to slam it shut once more should needs be. Yet before he could properly look to see who was trying to get in so badly, Seungri was forced back as someone bodily threw themselves against the door. The young Omega being thrown back by the strength of whoever it was, the combination with his alcohol infused body causing Seungri to stagger back and slam into the coat and shoes rack with a sharp cry. His hand which had still been on the door handle being twisted awkwardly as the door was forced into him, and their visitor stormed past, not even stepping out of his shoes.

Despite crumpling in pain as he was passed, Seungri soon staggered to his feet at the sudden sharp scream from the lounge. There was no mistaking it was Changmin, the man was famed for his high pitched abilities, but Seungri had never heard something so fuelled by fear as he limped towards the room his friends were in, his own injuries forgotten as he tried to help Changmin.

Collapsing against the doorframe leading into the lounge, Seungri’s eyes widened at the scene that greeted him, a cold wave of fear dousing over him as he realised who their visitor was. From his viewpoint, Seungri watched in horror as Changmin was grabbed by a delicate wrist and wrenched from the floor and his position sprawled across Kyuhyun, the Beta already sporting a split lip from where he’d tried to keep hold of his Omega. And currently tightening his grip around Changmin’s wrist as he kicked out at Kyuhyun’s stomach to stop him from getting up once more, Yunho stood growling possessively.

“R-Ri?! Ri! Oh my God are you alright?!” Changmin exclaimed, panting heavily from trying to tug his wrist free. Changmin may have been incredibly strong for an Omega, but Yunho put a lot of Alphas to shame with his strength and musculature. “What Ha—will you get off me?!”

“You were supposed to be home two hours ago.” Yunho snarled, spare hand sinking into the rumpled fabric of Changmin’s shirt to grip at the Omega possessively. “I’m also sure I remember you saying you were meeting Seungri, not _him_.”

“I-I can meet who I want to you idiotic little f—oww, get off!” Changmin snapped in response, whatever barbed insult he’d been about to spit cut off as Yunho shook him, the force knocking his head back sharply enough to cut off his voice as his neck was forcefully exposed.

“We’re going home. Now.” Yunho spat, not loosening his grip on Changmin’s shirt as he span, delivering one more kick to Kyuhyun’s sprawled frame before proceeding to drag the Omega out of the apartment by his wrist, barely letting him put his shoes back on before Changmin was forced kicking and screaming down the streets, trying to cause as much a scene as possible. Yunho pausing on the way out long enough to look Seungri up and down slowly, throwing the youngest a dark smirk before he was off.

Sinking to the floor, still unsure what had just happened, Seungri felt the adrenaline drain out of him now he no longer needed to fight through the pain for his friend, belatedly registering the violent shaking in his fingers and the rolling waves of nausea that threatened to bubble up his throat. That smirk had sent chills down Seungri’s spine, in ways he’d not experienced since he’d been approached on the streets all those years ago.

“Seungri? Are you all right?” Kyuhyun wheezed, crawling across towards the Omega as best as his injuries would allow him, Seungri not registering he was even there until he was pulled into the cradle of the Beta’s arms, worried hands rubbing at his trembling limbs. “Did he hurt you?”

“A-Ani.” Seungri stammered, settling back into Kyuhyun’s arms for a moment before bolting upright. “Oh! You’re hurt! I shouldn’t be leaning on you I’m sorry.” He gasped, turning on his knees to check over the elder male, frowning at the smudge of congealed blood tucked in the corner of Kyuhyun’s lips.

“This? It’s nothing compared to what Changmin will do when he sobers up fully.” Kyuhyun muttered, wiping the blood from his lips and smearing it lazily against his pants when he found nothing else to clean his fingers on. “I guess you’ve never seen Yunho like that before have you?”

Shaking his head gently, knowing that any harder would just make his dizziness even worse, Seungri moved slightly and gingerly clamoured to his feet. It took him a few moments on his feet to keep himself steady, before he held out his hands to help Kyuhyun to his feet, only really remembering the way his wrist had bent against the doorway as the Beta put his weight into it as he got up.

“Is Yunho-sshi always like this?” Seungri queried curiously, albeit a bit nervously, as he followed Kyuhyun to the bathroom while the elder checked on his injuries. “I mean…can’t something be done about it?”

“Not really. Changmin’s complained about it before but the worst he’s done so far is today and grab him by the wrist.” Kyuhyun explained, gingerly pressing his fingertips into his chest as he spoke, wincing ever so often as he tried to work out if anything was broken. “He normally hits me. Well…he does if he can get to me before Changmin stops him. Yunho claims he has a bond with Changmin, which…is basically one night away from being an official mating…if you get what I mean. So no one questions his actions.”

Seungri could feel himself pale on the spot as Kyuhyun spoke. Of course he knew what the Beta meant by ‘one night from an official mating’ it was the whole reason he even existed. Omegas were able to have casual sex as long as they were on their heat suppressant pills, if not, then majority of the time they ended up pregnant, and this mating was permanent. The global government had made it punishable by castration if an Alpha abandoned a pregnant Omega, or indeed if an Omega chose to abandon their duty and abort their child, or refuse a permanent bond with the Alpha who impregnated them, they would find themselves being forced infertile too. Of course, nowadays after so many centuries of this rapid leap in evolution and the invention of the suppressant pills, it was rare that happened, most becoming pregnant by choice with their partner when they wanted to help create the next generation. But it wasn’t unheard of. And Yunho had always made it clear he wanted Changmin to be his.

The one problem with the whole situation for Yunho, was the fact Changmin wasn’t interested. In fact, if Seungri had been just a little bit braver, he would have questioned Kyuhyun on whether there was anything behind the lingering looks and almost familiar intimate closeness between the pair of them. Although, Seungri was first to admit he wouldn’t be surprised if there was. He himself had never seen Changmin as comfortable with anyone as much as Kyuhyun, and already as controversial as he was, Seungri wouldn’t put it past Changmin to decide he didn’t even want an Alpha.

Again, relationships between Betas and Omegas weren’t unheard of either, but were equally as rare as abandoned pregnancies. Betas normally ended up in relationships with fellow Betas; since most Omegas were socially reserved for Alphas, and indeed the other way round, in order to make up for the still severely lacking world population. But every so often either a lucky infertile Omega—since it was difficult for Betas to actually impregnate someone so there would unlikely be any pregnancies anyway—or an Omega who’d never found the right Alpha, or indeed; as in Changmin’s case, didn’t want an Alpha or children, found themselves socially available for Betas.

“What about you though Hyung?” Seungri questioned, before quickly clamping his mouth shut. He’d not meant to question that out loud, but the jumbled mess of his thought pattern had thrown the wrong words out of his mouth. “Sorry…Ignore that.”

“I…” Kyuhyun started, visibly taken aback by the unexpected question before he smiled softly; the gesture so unlike his traditional cold smirk, and normally a sight only reserved for their mutual Omega link. “…Am I that obvious?”

“Just to me.” Seungri chuckled. “And I think maybe Yunho either suspects something, or is paranoid about it which is why he keeps being how he is with Changmin.”

“Yeah…more than likely.” Kyuhyun sighed, stretching slowly, having established nothing was damaged except his pride.

“Don’t worry Hyung. I’m sure things will work out in your favour.” Seungri hummed, following Kyuhyun back into the main room and helping him to clear up the mess Yunho had left behind.

And that evening, when he returned home, just stepping into the elevator to head up to his floor when a text message from Changmin came through on his phone, Seungri knew he was right.

_Hope you’re ok. BBA has been taken care of, if he asks I’m at yours. I’m off back to Kyu’s I was comfortably asleep before BBA interrupted. Also, I threatened to tell your Alphas if he ended up hurting you again. The threat of Jiyong has kept him at bay for a while at least. – Min_

Stepping out of the elevator on his floor, Seungri hadn’t however, expected to find a familiar figure on his doorstep waiting for him, clutching a large tub of what looked like homemade cookies. The Omega knew he probably looked a state, he was still pale from earlier, and still walked a bit oddly from the last traces of alcohol in his system. But just like Changmin knew, if any of his Hyungs found out what had happened earlier on with Yunho, Changmin would be a solo artist by the morning because his group member would have been ripped to pieces by four over protective Alphas and Beta.

“Daesungie Hyung!” Seungri greeted, as he reached the elder male’s side, trying to peek curiously into the plastic box, the elder starting sharply at the sudden noise. “Have you been here long?”

“No, I only got back from visiting my parents about half an hour ago and then I’ve been doing my rounds with food as always. I left you to last when Youngbae Hyung told me you were out with Changmin-sshi.” Daesung responded once he’d calmed, eyes sliding into soft crescents as he waited for Seungri to open the door and let him in. Daesung’s parents were a Chef and Baker and when the Beta returned home for visits on his day off every week, he’d often bring boxes upon boxes of food back. The Beta had made the mistake of offering it round one time, and soon the three Alphas and Seungri had been hooked on the delicious homemade treats, yet Daesung’s parents had been thrilled to discover their new fandom, and soon Daesung had started bringing enough food back for the five of them to eat until the next visit through sheer nagging on his parent’s part.

“What have you got for me this week?” Seungri chuckled as he kicked his shoes off and shuffled off through his apartment to get some water before the elder smelt the alcohol on him. Daesung was nowhere near as protective as the eldest three, he didn’t get angry or threaten people if they got too close to the Omega. But that didn’t mean the Beta didn’t continuously nag about Seungri’s drinking and snacking habits whenever he could.

“Just baked goods this time. Chef Appa is ill at the moment so he can’t cook us anything.” Daesung replied, setting the box down on the table before fixing the Omega with an untraditionally sharp glance; as always the Beta never missed anything. “Are you _sure_ you’re okay Ri? You look a bit shaken.”

Just as he was about to answer, Seungri felt his phone go off once more; quickly signalling at his Hyung to wait for a moment as he retrieved it from his pocket to check it wasn’t something unwanted. It turned out to be a photo message from Changmin; him and Kyuhyun pulling ridiculous faces, clearly having continued drinking once more if the bottles and mass of food boxes surround the pair was anything to go by. Kyuhyun’s arms around Changmin, one over his shoulder and down his chest to meet the other against his stomach as it came up from his waist. If Seungri hadn’t been there that afternoon, he’d have never known anything had been disrupted by Yunho’s possessive appearance with the way the pair were curled together.

Setting his phone back in his pocket after sending back an amused message, Seungri hummed and looked up at Daesung, the elder still waiting for an answer; eyes still sharp and searching.

“I am now Hyung.” Seungri answered, before sitting down at the table and eagerly tugging the box of baked goods towards him to sniff at curiously. Daesung took a moment to look him over before seemingly accepting his answer and sitting opposite him, telling the youngest all about his home adventures; a story he’d told three times already to his Hyungs, but one he admittedly was more than willing to tell again to Seungri who always reacted wonderfully to every part. And indeed from the moment he started, Seungri stared wide eyed as he played with the cookies, hooked on every word; gasping, laughing, ducking his head from second-hand embarrassment and frowning sympathetically at all appropriate moments like he was auditioning for a drama.

“So, how’s things with Changmin-sshi then Ri?” Daesung quizzed as he finished speaking, watching the youngest finally start nibbling on a freshly baked cookie almost hamster like, having been too distracted by Daesung’s stories to start eating.

“They…They’re good actually I think Hyung. Really good.” Seungri answered with a soft smile, mind supplying the image of his two friends in the strange photograph he’d just been sent. “We had quite the afternoon.”

“Good. I’m glad, I don’t think it’s healthy for you to be as surrounded by Alphas as you are.” Daesung chuckled, stealing a cookie to nibble on himself. “Although I don’t think it’s really healthy for the Hyungs to have an Omega as cute as you around them!”

And although Seungri laughed along with his Hyung, the Omega felt his chest clench in panic at the idea of any of his Hyungs wanting to be more with him than they were already. He was already paranoid about Youngbae discovering his secret in the many weeks the pair of them would be spending in close proximity for their duet without Daesung’s nagging spinning round his head—even If it was only meant as a joke. But if he was honest with himself, he was dreading the moment they found out what he truly was, more than the idea of any of them trying to claim him.

The next afternoon, it was all Seungri could do to stop himself from passing out due to the constant underlying panic thrumming through his veins. Youngbae had already asked him five times in the past half hour whether he was okay and whether he wanted to stop, but Seungri knew stopping would only delay the inevitable.

 _‘The inevitable’_ as the Omega had come to think of it as, was the choreography for his future release with Youngbae. He’d felt the iron weight of dread settling familiarly into his stomach from the moment he’d stepped into the President’s office that morning to discuss the details for the pairs collaboration. And the weight had only increased and sank through his stomach into his gut as the elder male explained how Jiyong had written the song for them already, the choreography was all sorted, as well as the ideas for the music video, and that by the way, they were going to be portrayed as a couple.

A quick glance through the lyrics as Youngbae read over his shoulder had Seungri almost wanting to laugh hysterically at the irony of his life. The song Jiyong had written was like a typical Korean drama; all about a pair who had met eyes across a crowded room and fallen in love instantly, yet class divisions, family responsibilities and social standing were all teamed up against them, but they were determined to be together despite the fact the world would never accept them. All it was missing was the Omega of the story being infertile and it might as well have been written about any attempt at a relationship he himself would ever have.

The President had gone on to explain that for the music video they wanted to push the censorship as much as possible in order to make the best impact in an industry where duets were ruled by Jiyong and Seunghyun or Yunho and Changmin only. That meant sexy, seductive and skin, lots of skin. It wasn’t entirely finalised yet, but the President wanted the music video to copy the story of the song, the pair of them meeting in a club, including a flirtatious dance break in the middle before an incredibly suggestive bedroom scene and action scenes of them running from society. Yet before Seungri had even had chance to protest Youngbae had done it for him; the Alpha sat squirming uncomfortably as he queried rather meekly whether the more rated scenes were really necessary or not.

After fixing Youngbae with one of his traditional, sharp, imploring stares; the President had refused to change any ideas for any part of the music video, assuring Youngbae that Seungri’s purity would not be compromised if the young Alpha ripped his shirt off and pinned him by his hips into a bed and made him squirm a bit.—not that his response reassured any qualms Youngbae had with the situation, if anything simply making them worse.

“Ri?” Jerking slightly, Seungri blinked rapidly as he looked up, eyes locking onto the reflection of Youngbae’s own in the mirrored wall in front of them. “Are you _sure_ you’re okay?”

“Ne. I am, I just guess I’m still a bit hung-over from yesterday at Kyuhyun Hyungs.” Seungri replied with a shaky smile. “Either that or I ate too many of Daesungie Hyung’s cookies he brought me back from his Family home.” He added, momentarily amused at the fact he seemed to be getting asked that more and more often nowadays.

Glancing around slightly, Youngbae checked to see where the staff members were spread out around the room, before gently nudging Seungri to move towards the emptiest corner available.  The pair of them had been part way through learning the dance when the Alpha had asked, Youngbae pressed up against Seungri’s back, hands spread protectively, resting on his stomach from where Youngbae had walked his fingers seductively up from the Omega’s hips earlier in the dance. Yet even as Seungri moved at his Hyung’s nudge, Youngbae kept his arms round the slender waist, and there they remained even as the pair reached the desired corner out of the way.

“Look, I know this is not exactly comfortable for you…”Youngbae murmured, leaning against Seungri’s back to breathe the words against the Omega’s ear to avoid nosey listeners in. “…If you’re really that uncomfortable we can just forget the whole thing ne?”

“A-Ani. We can’t do that, Papa has gone to a lot of trouble to organise this so quickly…I wouldn’t want to let him down.” Seungri hissed back, trying to ignore the way the soft curls at his temple fluttered with every soft movement of Youngbae’s voice. “I just…” he added, before trailing off into silence, not quite able to come up with a plausible story and not lie to his Hyung as the same time.

“You’re so pale. Are you scared? Because you know you’re safe with me right? I’m not going to hurt you or do anything to you.” Youngbae added, one hand lifting to its familiar place amongst Seungri’s curls, massaging gently, not seeming to notice Seungri’s growing horror. “I mean…I’d never take advantage of you, you know tha—please tell me you know that—and you have the rest of your Hyungs if the fans don’t react how we imagine…”

“W-What?! No! No Hyung…I don’t think that.” Seungri spluttered, tearing himself out of Youngbae’s grip to spin round to face his slightly flush-faced Hyung. “I…I would never think or suggest you would take advantage of me. I know that’s not going to happen.” He added, eyes wide as he tried to stop his mind from altering the images of his past and imposing Youngbae’s face on the boy who ruined his life. “I’m just…nervous. I’ve never been this close with anyone.”

“Then don’t think of it as being close to anyone or whatever. Just imagine it how it is. You dancing with a close friend and Hyung, someone who once this is all over with, you can sit and laugh with at how ridiculously cliché this whole idea is.” Youngbae responded, eyes curving into a soft smile as he reached up to tuck a stray curl of ebony hair behind Seungri’s ear.

Yet just as Seungri went to respond, the young Omega was blinded slightly by a sudden flash of light, blinking rapidly as white spots danced across his eyes. From his side Youngbae groaned in annoyance, clearly having been blinded just the same, his hand moving back to rub at his eyes as a rather familiar cackling laugh echoed around the dance studio.

“Dammit Ji what the hell are you doing?!” Youngbae groaned once his eyes had cleared enough for him to spot the incredibly skinny male stood a little way away from them, eyes gleaming over the top of his camera. “And why do you have a camera?”

“It was Papa’s idea. When they release your mini album it’s going to have a photobook with it full of photos of the pair of you being all couple-like and I couldn’t resist when you’re both looking so natural.” Jiyong laughed, moving across to show the pair the photo he’d just taken. Leaning over to look at the small LED screen, Seungri found his chest tightening as he gazed at the photograph. There was no denying it looked couple-like; one of Youngbae’s arms wrapped protectively round Seungri’s waist, the other hand’s fingers caught in frame just as they traced round the shell of Seungri’s ear, Youngbae’s eyes curving softly as he gazed at the young Omega with soft, delicate affection, Seungri’s own eyes all but shining with the trust he held for his Hyung.

“I thought the idea was that we were only an implied couple.” Youngbae murmured, snatching the camera out of the rappers hands to peer closely at the photograph. “If you’re not careful you and Papa will end up destroying our fan-bases with all this couple stuff, you know me and Ri rely on our fans as solo artists by being potentially available to them, to fulfil their fantasies with the idea that we might fall in love with them.”

“I know that, but it’s just a concept. Besides, just imagine all the fans Seungri will gain with all the jealous Alphas that will want to declare themselves better suited for him? The Television studios will just turn into a huge battlefield of Alpha dominance.” Jiyong all but squealed, eyes shining; the gleam that of a mastermind whose genius plan was going exactly as he wanted, Seungri briefly considering that all Jiyong was missing from the look was the gleeful hand rubbing.

Biting his lip in concern, Seungri moved away from his two Hyungs as they started to bicker and snipe at each other; something which was more of a common occurrence then most assumed. The pair may have been friends for years, but alongside that closeness and willingness to do anything for each other at a mere glance, blossomed two distinct personalities that more often than not rubbed against each other so harshly it always caused sparks. Seungri was used to the pair of them being fine one moment and practically biting each other’s heads off the next, and more often than not the Omega left them too it. Once when he’d been about sixteen Seungri had foolishly tried to pull them apart despite Seunghyun and Daesung’s warnings and all it had gotten him for his troubles was a sore ass as he was bodily pushed out of the line of fire.

But this time Seungri needed the moments spent bickering and distracted so he could collect his own thoughts and emotions. The rate at which the day was going, with revelation after revelation, Seungri was convinced that anymore shocks and surprises like this and he really would pass out from the panic. As much as Jiyong was right, Seungri couldn’t help but worry how his and Youngbae’s fan-bases were going to react to the concept of their duet. He wasn’t an idiot, as close as he was to Youngbae he’d often seen or read things about fans considering them a couple, or wishing they’d become one, but with something so blatant as their current plans; Seungri was convinced it would be too much of a virtual smack in the face of their fandoms and it would all backfire quite drastically.

If he was honest with himself, Seungri could have done without the added concept of being a couple being mixed into the works, or Jiyong doing his best _‘David Bailey impression’_ and following them round with a camera. It was going to be difficult enough as it was trying to hide his infertility from Youngbae without them being made to act extra close and touchy, made to invade each other’s personal space and destroy all concepts of minimum proximity. He’d done nothing but research since his initial discovery that he might not be irreversibly infertile, but all he’d found was that an infertile Omega gave off different waves of scent in close proximity to an Alpha—a scent that alerted Alphas to the fact that the Omega they may be trying to pursue was infertile—kind of like a warning system so no precious mating time was wasted where it was not needed.

The brief sickening glance he’d spared the sheet he’d been passed that outlined the potential ideas for the music video had done nothing to alleviate his concern. From that one tiny look, Seungri had spotted at least twelve ideas that involved the pair of them either almost kissing or with Youngbae’s head nuzzled possessively into his pulse point on his neck. The only way Youngbae would find out quicker than those would be for Seungri to ignore his pills, trick Youngbae into mating with him and then a week later going _‘surprise! I’m not pregnant!’_ and he could only imagine how well that would be taken.

“Ready to try a few of these moves out then Ri?” Youngbae questioned, suddenly appearing from seemingly nowhere, peering over Seungri’s shoulder to once more peer at him through his reflection. “The quicker we try it out the easier and less awkward it’ll become ne? Just remember what I said to you.”

Nodding slightly, more to himself then Youngbae, Seungri moved to his position in the centre of the dance studio and took a deep breath. He could do this, he was a professional, as was his Hyung. He could get through this with limited awkwardness, they would be able to do this and not ruin their friendship or lose too much of their fan-bases. And if they kicked Jiyong and Seunghyun off the top spot in the duet charts for the weeks of their promotions, then it would serve the skinny rapper right for being a co-conspirator in the concept creation.

And with the added determination to wipe the self-satisfied smug off Jiyong’s face as he flitted around snapping photos of the pair of them dancing, laughing, falling over each other and laughing some more, Seungri and Youngbae soon found themselves focused and picking the more difficult areas of the dance up, even before they’d recorded their lead track.

Soon Seungri; as the lighter and ‘fragile’ Omega of the pair, found himself being thrown around in some bizarre mash of salsa and hip hop, losing which way was the right way up for the world as he was dipped back over Youngbae’s arm and span round more times than he cared to stop to consider. Just like the video was going to be set to fit in with the song, so was the choreography. Youngbae the supposed big, almighty Alpha dancing and seducing the delicate Omega into a dance all their own, before tugging him back as Seungri tried to escape in fear of being discovered by society, more dancing together in an artistic representation of almost-sex, before the grand finale where Youngbae did his best to protect his love from the world and they ran away.

“You know…I’ve just had a thought, what If I wrote a follow up song!” Jiyong exclaimed as they finally drew their rehearsal to a close, the choreographers already congratulating them on their progress despite the fact the pair of them had collapsed to the floor in a pile of limbs in exhaustion. “It could continue the story and be released second depending on the popularity of this one. And it could be a slow sexy ballad instead of the smokier sexy hip hop style you’re both so used to…it could be all tragic and you could choose death over being separated in life.” Jiyong added, already frantically scribbling in his notebook.

Seungri and Youngbae simply shared a look and rolled their eyes before collapsing back once again.


	4. Sheer Self-Destruction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this update took so long. Just as I turn round and declare that I was getting into the swing of this fic, I got hit by writer's block.
> 
> I wrote this chapter 5 times. And each one was drastically different from the last. This is the latest and the one I feel the best about. I'm still not happy about it, but i feel it's the best I can get it to be now. My brain is moving on to later parts of the plot and at least this way I get this chapter out the way.
> 
> So...I apologise if this is really bad.

Shifting the ends of his wet bangs out of his eyes with a soft flick of his head, Seungri risked a cautious reach up to reset his hairstyle before the Co-ordinators could spot it, before resuming his starting pose silhouetted in the rain. A soft snort of amusement from behind him told him that his actions had not gone unnoticed, but Seungri couldn’t bring himself to care; he had wanted to at least trim his hair for the duet concept—there had only been so many times he could put up with his curls poking him spitefully in the eye during practise—but the co-ordinators had explained they intended for him to grow it out. Amidst his protests, Seungri had been informed it was in order to make Youngbae seem more masculine; as despite the Alpha being older, more muscular and a lot more angular in the lines of his features, the simple fact that Seungri was taller than Youngbae was a fact that none of the fan-bases had failed to pick up on. And apparently, this automatically ruined any form of masculinity or dominance Youngbae possessed and so Seungri was made to let his hair grow out.

Shivering slightly as a rivulet of the processed rain slid down the back of his neck into the collar of his shirt, Seungri resisted the urge to wrap his arms round himself to keep warm while he waited. Partly because he could already see the co-ordinators twitching in their urges to come and fix his hair after his last fidget, but mainly because the Omega wasn’t exactly sure he _could_ wrap his arms round himself with how tight his outfit was.

When he’d arrived at the studio that morning expecting to film the dance version of his duet with Youngbae--given how the pair of them were the best dancers in YG and their choreography had been made even more difficult accordingly—Seungri had naively hoped that he’d be given something loose and easy to dance in to wear. But instead he’d been wrapped in super skinny jeans, the denim so thick he could barely bend his knees despite them being artistically slashed at the joint area, as well as a fitted cute slogan t-shirt a size smaller than he actually was and a brightly coloured varsity jacket, sleeves rolled up to the elbows restricting the movements in his other joints to finish off the look. The only part Seungri liked about the outfit was the fact he’d been allowed to keep his own well-worn trainers on his feet instead of being forced into some ridiculous product placement shoes that felt like he were dancing in concrete slabs.

He wasn’t quite sure how he was expected to dance in his get up, but again his protests had fallen on deaf ears as the whole outfit was designed to make him look cute and demure, but innocently seductive at the same time, as if he didn’t realise how attractive people would find him in his supposedly self-chosen clubbing outfit. But as he risked a glance over his shoulder to see what exactly was the hold up for the umpteenth shot of their dance video, Seungri felt distinctly like Youngbae had gotten the better part of the deal in this concept.

The Alpha’s hair had been cut into more vivid spikes and layers, and re-dyed, so the blond Mohawk was almost a glaring white, and even now, wet and limp squashed down one side of his head under his cap, was incredibly intimidating. Or at least as intimidating as hair could get. Combined with the fact Youngbae was dressed in an open-sided vest and designer low crotch pants tucked into the thickest leather military boots Seungri had ever seen, the Omega didn’t really think that cutting his hair would have diminished the Alpha’s masculinity.

If he was honest, Seungri felt a bit bitter. Youngbae was dressed in pretty much his normal promotional style outfit, and everything was cut or sagged to allow optimum movement—although if he were honest, those pants were so big that _he_ could have probably fit in them at the same time. And that was indeed probably the intention of the co-ordinators to send Omegas crazy with the idea of literally getting into Youngbae’s pants—and yet Seungri, with his hair steadily curling under the rain felt like nothing more than a gift wrapped poodle.

Feeling a sudden pinch in his side, Seungri yelped and instinctively slapped at the offending fingers as he spun out of their grasp, ignoring the annoyed titters of the co-ordinators as his jacket moved slightly out of its perfect position. The Omega pausing only to glare as Youngbae pouted and rubbed at his reddened knuckles, before moving across to allow the all but spitting vultures to fuss over his outfit. Out the corner of his eye, Seungri watched as Youngbae shook it off and slouched back across the set, rehearsing a few of their moves as he went, pausing only to throw the Omega a small smirk before carrying on.

On set or stage Youngbae always turned into a different person, to the point it was slightly disconcerting to see. The normally slightly dorky, kind hearted ball of energy that was Youngbae vanished, leaving behind this confident, playboy so cool and collected and ready to drive Omegas wild. But, as Seungri was often reminded by the staff in their company, he was the only one who didn’t really change; yet he was so often preoccupied with keeping his real being hidden from everyone, that he could barely find the energy to create yet another persona to portray on camera. He had simply settled for being his awkward, shying self who had a habit of laughing too loud and fidgeting too much, and the Alpha population had ended up loving him.

Finally being deemed presentable again; despite not really being able to notice much of a difference in his outfit, Seungri shuffled back out to the centre of the set and turned his back to Youngbae. A few moments later the rain started up full force once again and a pair of rain shined arms curled around his waist to hold him place, the surrounding areas falling quiet as the Director waited for some certain perfect moment before yelling action.

For the next five minutes, Seungri focused everything onto that moment as he was thrown about, pulled back every time he tried to push Youngbae away, hands grabbing at broad shoulders, back bending to an almost gravity-defying level over the Alpha’s arms, legs moving intricately as if in a dance all their own. This was something Seungri had confidence in. He could dance, and he knew he could dance, and if Youngbae ever stopped proving just how talented the Alpha was at dancing, Seungri knew he would easily take the title as YG’s best.

Feeling the slight change in the beat as the song slowed to a close, Seungri fell still; one wrist captured between Youngbae’s fingers as he tried once more to stop his Omega from leaving in the plotline, the pivotal point of the dance where Seungri would stop resisting and trying to escape and would give up his fears of society to be with the Alpha he loved. Allowing himself to be pulled back in one soft, slow fluid motion, Seungri bit his lip on instinct as his back collided with the rather wet but solid chest, arms crossing across his waist once more—his cue to look up, making sure to make eye contact with the camera before turning his focus to the Alpha—unable to stop the small smile stretching across his lips as Youngbae smiled fondly at him, eye crescents momentarily bringing the real Youngbae back to the surface, before Seungri was span slowly. Now chest to chest, Seungri’s smiled widened even further as Youngbae carefully lifted the cap off his head and gently placed it atop the Omega’s mass of curls. A symbol of possession and adoration most Omegas in Youngbae’s fanbase would kill to achieve, before Youngbae finished everything off as the song faded away into the background with a gentle fingertip beneath Seungri’s chin, the action bringing the Younger’s lips mere centimetres away from his own.

And that was where it should have ended. And indeed it was where the Director had yelled cut. But As Seungri went to move back, he found himself jolting slightly as Youngbae refused to slacken the grip he had around his waist holding him against his chest. For one brief moment, Seungri panicked that Youngbae had realised and was going to try and squeeze him to death, and if he were going to be executed, Seungri would rather something slightly less prolonged and painful. Yet before the Omega could stutter any excuses and try to escape, Youngbae’s hand against his chin moved, and a slender thumb carefully brushed the left over rain droplets away from his cheekbone. The rest of his fingers sliding gently to cup behind his ear as the exploring thumb moved to stroke gently across Seungri’s famously long eyelashes.

Unable to prevent his natural reaction, Seungri’s eyes fluttered closed, unable to suppress the soft laugh as the movement of his eyelashes tickled his sensitive eyelid, which only increased moments later as Youngbae’s other hand lifted from his waist finally to echo the same movements against his other eyelid, now effectively cupping the Omega’s face.

“I never realised your eyelids were mismatched.” Youngbae murmured, thumbs now stroking extra carefully against the closed flesh of Seungri’s eyelids. “Your left eyelid doesn’t curve open as much as your right does, does it?”

“I…I can’t say I’ve really paid it much attention. I just know that the right side of my face comes out better in photographs.” Seungri muttered equally as softly in response, trying to stop his eyes from blinking open from the stimuli of Youngbae’s thumbs, despite the fact his eyes were starting to water. He desperately needed to blink, his eyes flitting madly beneath his eyelids, but so much of him was inexplicably scared to do so.

He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, the Director had yelled cut, but no one was clattering around them trying to clear the set up for either a finish or another take depending what the man ordered. Seungri couldn’t hear anything except the blood rushing in his ears, pulsing with his heartbeat as it sky-rocketed in the combination of his panic and confusion and craving for the affection he was so apparently starved of.

Seungri always made a habit of keeping an emotional divider between himself and his closest Hyungs, and apart from the odd occasion—rather like when Seungri had dropped his lunch and shattered it around his feet—he managed to keep them from getting beyond a certain level of familial intimacy. He always protested vehemently if Jiyong tried to cuddle him, or when Seunghyun tried to pinch and peck his face, but the choreography for the duet had successfully destroyed the barriers Seungri had set up to prevent too much intimacy for fear of his condition being discovered. Seungri had found himself wrapped up in strong comfortable arms, held in a gentle embrace and caressed so lovingly he would have had to have been dead to not be affected by it. He knew it was just for the concept, but Seungri’s body and mind were so starved emotionally as well as physically after being thrown out so cruelly by his parents, that he couldn’t help but lap it up.

Despite knowing he should have done so by now, the only thing that had stopped him from pulling away was the simple fact that he trusted his Hyung. Youngbae was the most rational, level-headed and gentle of his Alpha Hyungs, and whilst Seungri normally would have rebuked such action by now—since it definitely hopped over the barrier of acceptable intimacy—Seungri knew that Youngbae would move away the moment he so much as twitched in discomfort. When Jiyong and Seunghyun took it as a game to see how deep they could make the Omega flush before he exploded at them, Youngbae would back off as if he’d been burnt. It had almost offended him at first how fast Youngbae would let go of him, but Daesung had explained to him one evening that Youngbae was very much a supporter of Omega equality and believed that any Omega he ended up mating with, would do so of their own choice by coming to him, not being pursued into giving up. And if Youngbae ever got the impression his actions were of a pressuring or pushing nature and making an Omega uncomfortable he would back off immediately.

Feeling a sudden whoosh of warmth over his face, Seungri snapped back to attention, eyes quivering beneath his eyelids as he realised he’d zoned out for a few moments. In those few moments he’d missed, everything had suddenly heated up around him, the sort of heat that could only really be achieved by whoever was stood in front of you moving closer. Youngbae’s hands were still cupped around his cheeks gently, thumbs now padding delicately against the soft smudges of Seungri’s eyebags, apparently so close to the Omega now he could feel his breath across his face.

“Ahem” The sudden forced cough from somewhere a lot closer than he’d been expecting, Seungri jerked almost violently as a slender pair of hands suddenly clamped down on his and Youngbae’s shoulders. The action causing his eyes to spring open, Seungri found himself staring wide eyed as Youngbae was barely a nose-touch away from him, eyes dark, lips parted and shining slightly from being licked in nervous habit, and if the Omega hadn’t known any better, he would have been convinced Youngbae had been moments away from psyching himself up to kiss him. But of course, this was Youngbae, and Seungri was just—well, Seungri—so that couldn’t have been the case, yet the thing that really shocked the Omega was the dark look on Jiyong’s face as he stood beside them, his fingers visibly tightening on Youngbae’s shoulder as he pulled the other Alpha back.

“J-Ji Hyung!” Seungri exclaimed, managing to give an almost natural response as Youngbae steadily got further away from his personal space thanks to the other Alpha’s grip. “You made it!”

“Of course I did! I told you I would.” Jiyong managed to cheerfully respond, despite the fact his jaw was practically pulsing with how hard he grit his teeth as he glared at Youngbae. “It’s a good thing I did too.” He added, fingers tightening once again around Youngbae’s shoulder before he turned to Seungri fully, a soft smile back in place. “Say, Ri…why don’t you go rest hmm? That outfit can’t be easy to dance in, I just want to have a word with Bae okay?”

“Oh! Okay Hyung sure.” Seungri nodded relieved, giving both his Hyung’s a large grateful smile before he turned and slouched away off set, not seeing Jiyong’s face darken drastically before he snatched Youngbae by the back of the neck and dragged him out of the studio completely. Indeed, Seungri didn’t notice anything as the moment he found the seat where his bag had been left, his strangely comfortable contentment vanished as he spotted his phone illuminated with the notification of multiple messages.

_No matter how they dress you up, you will always be a mess - <3_

_You’d make the perfect whore - <3_

_Or maybe a lap dancer with that ass - <3_

_That’s all you’re good for now - <3_

Seungri grimaced as he scrolled through the messages, each one getting steadily more vulgar than the last to the point he felt almost verbally violated. Whoever had sent them had been in the studio watching them dance, and that thought alone terrified him more than the actual messages. However, just as he reached the bottom, Seungri felt his heart leap into his throat as his phone buzzed with a new message, just appearing in the open message thread.

_He’ll have to scrub his hands a long time to get rid of your filth. - <3_

Lifting his head in a panic, Seungri glanced feverishly around at the mass of staff hovering, waiting for the two Alpha’s return, before the Omega spotted the distinct light of an in use phone as the owner slipped out of the studio doors. Without another thought for his safety, Seungri leapt up and raced towards the studio doors himself, if he could catch the culprit, he could find out how they knew, he could find out how to make them stop, he could do something to stop himself from being terrorised by text. His heart thumped against his ribs, fingers clenching tightly around his still unlocked phone, the blood rushing through his ears deafening him to the calls of the staff members trying to bring him back. He could feel his chest tightening as he reached the doors, he had been quick to react, whoever it was would be still in sight once he got out the studio, and he would take something into his own control for once in his life.

What he didn’t expect however, was to wrench the Studio doors open and to bodily collide with a large form and be sent almost crashing back into the room if not for the pair of large hands clamping round his biceps.

“Ri! Damn, are you okay?” echoed through his head as he yelped in combined shock and momentary pain, eyes instinctively clamping shut as he’d waited for the impact with the floor that never came. “Ri? Did I hurt you?” As the hands around his biceps moved upwards to cradle his shoulders blades protectively, fingers no longer vice-like around his skin, Seungri allowed his eyes to flicker open to meet the concerned chocolate irises hovering in front of him.

“S-Seunghyun Hyung? What are you doing here?” was the first thing Seungri could bring himself to say as he blinked rapidly, head spinning wildly as he searched the corridor for whoever had bombarded his phone with vile messages. Something inside the Omega cracked, as he realised that amidst the commotion of crashing into his Hyung, the culprit had escaped—and had probably picked up speed upon hearing the eldest Alpha saying his name—taking with them Seungri’s first real chance to confront his own private blackmailer.

“I came to see you obviously.” Seunghyun replied, slightly slower than natural as if concerned about Seungri’s mental state, his own eyes flitting curiously to follow the frantic turns of the Omega’s head trying to work out just what the smaller male was looking for. “I just got here when I saw Ji dragging Bae off so I thought I’d come keep you company.”

At the mention of his two other Alpha Hyungs, Seungri’s attention snapped back to the eldest in front of him, the lead resignation that he would probably spend the rest of his career days being tormented via text message slowly melted into panic. What if they ran into the culprit leaving suspiciously and stopped him? What if they’d seen the texts aimed at him? What if out of spite the sender spilt the whole story to them? So caught up in his panic, Seungri failed to register the way his throat tightened to the point of light-headedness until Seunghyun had to quickly grab onto his waist to steady him as he swayed.

“Come on, you look awful. Don’t worry about them two okay? You know yourself Ji is all bark and no bite.” Seunghyun murmured, more to himself as he ignored the fact Seungri was barely listening to him, the Alpha interpreting the pallor of Seungri’s features as concern over Youngbae’s sudden forced removal from the Studio. “Let’s get you something to eat and drink hmm? It’ll have been a while since you’ve eaten I’m guessing.” He added, keeping his grip secure but gentle around Seungri’s waist as he bodily lifted him up and returned him to his seat inside the studio, moving away for a few moments, before appearing once again holding a bottle of sport juice and a chocolate bar.

“Why did Ji Hyung drag Bae Hyung away?” Seungri questioned some ten minutes later, having spent the time silently nibbling at the proffered chocolate bar under the watchful eyes of his eldest Hyung. Seunghyun was always the Hyung Seungri could count on for lifting his mood with his ridiculous antics, but on the odd occasion—much like the current one—Seungri was reminded that the Alpha was indeed the eldest and held much more natural responsibility for those around him, then most realised. “I mean, surely if there was something wrong with the performance I should know?”

“Ri…What actually happened? I barely saw them both long enough for Ji to tell me you were on your own with the staff and for me to come up here. Youngbae didn’t exactly look too happy about being dragged along either.” Seunghyun queried, reaching to break a chunk of chocolate off the teeth-mark ridden bar Seungri was still attempting to wear down.

“Well…I don’t know. Bae Hyung and I had just finished our latest take for the dance version, and…we were talking, when Ji Hyung was suddenly there and then dragged Bae Hyung out of the studio telling me to go rest.” Seungri explained, barely blinking as the elder stole a piece of chocolate, far too used to most of his friends having a sweet tooth to really care.

“Why were you heading outside then if you were supposed to be resting?” Seunghyun enquired after a few moments thoughtful sucking on his chocolate piece.

“Oh, I.-“ Seungri started, choking slightly on his mouthful of his drink, mind spluttering as well as he tried to come up with a plausible reason for ignoring Jiyong’s words—something which was just not done—that didn’t involve the Omega saying _‘I’m infertile and being blackmailed’_ or anything similar.

Yet he was saved having to test his improvised lying abilities as the door to the studio was forced open as Youngbae barrelled into the area. The normally conscientious male not even blinking as the large door ricocheted off the wall and rebounded onto his fellow Alpha following after him still yelling his name. Jiyong for his part, barely reacted as he had to quickly shove the door once again or risk having his nose break the impact. Not even seeming to have noticed the blatant lack of respect, when normally the Alpha would have verbally torn Youngbae to shreds for nearly ruining his looks. In fact, once the pair of them had stormed over to where Seungri was sat with Seunghyun, Jiyong had merely thrown Youngbae a slightly withered look before dragging Seunghyun up by the bicep and over to the far corner of the room to start animatedly stage-whispering at him. The pair of them soon stood, heads bent low as they talked, shooting Seungri and the still silently fuming Youngbae looks and gestures every few moments.

Seungri was torn. Part of him wanted to get up and move across to see what the problem was, yet another part wanted to stay and keep an eye on the blond male stood clenching his fists so tightly Seungri could see marks blossoming on his palms. Whilst it was common for Jiyong and Youngbae to butt heads, he’d never really seen the pair of them like this, it was—scary—for lack of a better word. And after the eldest had smacked their heads together for trying to goad his input into one of their arguments, Seunghyun was never dragged into anything unless it concerned him as well.

All at once, Seungri felt as if his soul had drained away from him, the Omega visibly paling, fingers starting to tremble around his chocolate bar. If it concerned all three of his Alpha Hyungs, then by extension it probably concerned himself, was probably about himself. Had Jiyong found out he was tainted? Was that why he’d dragged Youngbae off for getting close to him? To tell the blond Alpha that Seungri was too disgusting to be touched, and he was now proceeding to tell Seunghyun as well? He couldn’t think of anything else it could be, there _wasn’t_ anything else it could be. Nothing else would have gotten Youngbae so angry and Jiyong so worked up, and judging by the tightening of Seunghyun’s jaw, the elder was starting to twitch the way he normally did when he couldn’t control his formidable temper.

“Ri? Ri what’s the matter?!” Youngbae exclaimed as he turned mid-angered pace to find Seungri seemingly on the verge of passing out. Yet, Seungri barely heard him, all he could focus on was the way Seunghyun’s responses to Jiyong’s words got steadily more and more irate. And as Youngbae moved to kneel in front of him worriedly, hands gently resting on his thighs, Seungri couldn’t prevent the yelp of fear as he jumped back. The knee-jerk reaction forcing him to press back into his seat, tugging his legs free from under the Alpha’s hands, chocolate thrown away as he folded in on himself. To Seungri, the touch hadn’t been about comfort, his mind was torn merging images from his memories together with the present. The touch was a meld of his Hyung from childhood who had started all this, so soft but forceful, and the painful grip of his parents as he was shunned and exiled for being unclean. Nothing about the touch was recognisably Youngbae’s gentle tentativeness as he started to hyperventilate, his mind on a downward spiral.

The moment Seungri had yelped and tugged back away from him as if he’d spooked a cornered animal, Youngbae had snatched his hands back and all but fallen back onto his rear in his haste to give Seungri space. The Omega barely registering the combination of hurt and self-loathing forming in Youngbae’s eyes as he got lost in his mind, nothing seemed to connect in his head, the fact he was no longer in Gwangju, no longer a naïve child wouldn’t click.

Unable to take anymore, his mind screaming at him to get away, to run and try and get as far away as possible before the Hyungs caught him and viciously turned on him, Seungri threw himself off his seat, not bothering to pick up his phone and bag as he all but dived through the studio door and ran off down the corridor. And as he ran, eyes starting to blur as the idea that his life was slowly spiralling away from him, the words he’d caught from Jiyong and Seunghyun as he’d ran past echoed spitefully round his ears.

_…All over him, it was disgusting..._

_…Why did he think he could get away with it?_

They knew. That was all the confirmation Seungri needed. They knew he was tainted and Jiyong had been disgusted at how Seungri had allowed Youngbae to touch him, had not backed off like a good lower class Omega who didn’t deserve the right to be touched by such a perfect Alpha. It was all over, his career, his lifestyle, everything. He’d have to get home and pack what he could, he’d have to avoid their President, or at least avoid physically seeing him, send him a message of his resignation. As the Father figure of the company, by moral and legal right, ‘Papa YG’ had the authority to order or instigate his exile or execution and going to see the man was nothing short of suicide.

Before he could register what was happening, Seungri burst out into the stairwell at the end of the corridor to head down out and out the side entrance where there were less likely to be people waiting to capture him, when a warm hand clamped around him from behind. Barely having time to yell out in shock—his traitorous mind convinced his Hyungs had caught up to him and were going to torture him, or push him down the stairs, or something else as equally cruel—Seungri found himself being span round and crushed against a warm, firm chest, arms; identically warm and firm, squeezing tightly around his frame.

“Ri! Ri please calm down! Please I’m so sorry.” Was all the Omega got in indication of who had followed him so quickly, before the same hands that had been pressed against his back to stop him from trying to bolt away once again, moved up to cup round his face oh so familiarly. Allowing his eyes to flicker open, Seungri stared confused as Youngbae’s forehead gently came to rest against his own, thumbs shaking as he returned to tracing them across the Omega’s cheekbones like he had earlier in the studio. But what Seungri couldn’t work out was the utterly broken darkness that seemed to cling to Youngbae’s eyes as they bore into his own. The Alpha looked shattered, looked exhausted physically and emotionally all at once, as if his entire world had been ripped out from under him and destroyed in front of his eyes whilst the universe cackled madly at his pain.

“I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave I won’t do anything like that again okay? I—fuck Ji was right wasn’t he? I’ve been doing nothing but pressurising you and messing with your head.” Youngbae muttered, his eyes finally falling closed as he all but swayed into Seungri, the Omega automatically grabbing onto the Alpha’s sides to steady him.

The blurring whirlwind of panic that had been swirling round Seungri’s mind crashed to a halt as he registered Youngbae’s words, the sheer self-destruction in his tone thrummed alongside the pounding of the blood in his ears, his heart racing as the Alpha’s fingers tucked behind his ears, clutched almost despairingly to the small curls at the nape of his neck. Seungri couldn’t get his head round what Youngbae had meant, how had finding out about him being infertile, been warped into meaning Youngbae was pressuring and messing with his head?

“I wasn’t trying anything I swear to you Ri. I would never touch you to make you feel uncomfortable or—or scared of me. I didn’t mean to scare you. Please Ri.” Youngbae carried on, babbling away in his desperation, voice soft, words almost brushed against Seungri’s lips from the awkward angle they were intertwined at. “I just…you’ve always been close to me. I didn’t think anything of it when I was looking at the way your eyes curved. T-Then Ji dragged me off and laid into me about how I was messing with your head and being cruel and showing you up in front of all the staff. Told me I was…touching you…inappropriately and I—“ the Alpha continued, seemingly unable to stop the disjointed flow of words before he managed to take a deep shuddering breath as he twitched in horror at the implications of his best friends warning.

“H-Hyung…I…no.” Seungri stuttered, his own hands lifting to cup the Alpha’s cheeks with a slap to either side, intentionally not being gentle to try and snap the elder out of it. “Hyung, I don’t know what Ji Hyung was saying to you but…I-I’m not scared you’re going to like…throw me in a corner and—assault me.” He added, not quite able to bring himself to voice any other word for it. Not that it really mattered if his Hyung had intended to do that, he was already tainted from an assault, once more wasn’t going to do any difference.

“But…But you ran off. When I knelt down to check on you and touched your leg…t-the fear in your eyes Ri. That was aimed at me and it broke me. I don’t ever want to be the cause of such a look in those bright eyes of yours. I…” Youngbae whispered gently, seeming to regain his coherency as he calmed down slightly, before Seungri’s eyes widened as the Alpha’s head tilted slightly against his own, the fingers at his nape sliding higher into the back of his hair with a gentle push, before the Omega found his breath catching as Youngbae’s lips lightly covered his own.

All at once his mind screamed and threatened to fall apart. He’d been so wound up over everything that had started to happen ever since he’d gotten the first text messages, that he’d slowly been ruining his calm façade he always upheld as if he had nothing to hide. Now Seungri had put himself at more risk of being found out, by overreacting and behaving suspiciously around his Hyungs. Youngbae didn’t know he was tainted, Jiyong had been concerned about the blond Alpha’s actions, not Seungri’s genetics. If he kept this up, the Omega would end up giving himself away simply through his idiotic behaviour and responses, long before any of his Alpha Hyungs could work out the issue with his biology.

Yet beneath the panic at his own idiocy, some part of Seungri begged for him to try and get closer. Youngbae’s lips had not moved, simply stayed held against his own, fingers massaging soothingly against his scalp, the whole thing as innocent as an intimate kiss could be. Yet the steadily growing part of him wanted more, he’d never expected after the incident when he was twelve that anyone would ever want to kiss him again, yet here was Youngbae—talented, good looking, kind Youngbae—kissing him so gently as if he were actually worth something.

“I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have done that. But I needed you to know Ri—you’re special to me, I would never use you or ruin you.” Youngbae murmured as he finally pulled back, eyes flitting almost nervously as if expecting to be slapped and pushed away and called a pervert at any moment. All the while, Seungri felt as if he would collapse from the onslaught of emotions, his heart broke as his conscience demanded he tell Youngbae he was already ruined, yet his fear kept him quiet and unresponsive. He couldn’t accept anything from the Alpha, not when he was like he was, no matter how much his heart clenched and sang at the idea that someone found him special enough to treat him right.

“You’re right. You shouldn’t have done that.” Jiyong suddenly snapped from the doorway, eyes blazing in anger as he all but shook in his attempts to contain himself. The snarled words causing Youngbae to jerk back almost violently as he span round, automatically putting Seungri behind his back to protect him.

Yet the fact they’d been seen, and by Jiyong and Seunghyun no less; the elder stood a little out of view behind the doorway, didn’t seem important in Seungri’s mind. What did however, was the fact that crushed inside Jiyong’s clenched fist was Seungri’s phone. His phone which was unlocked, and open on the spammed list of text messages he’d received from his tormentor. Almost reluctantly, Seungri’s eyes lifted from his phone to meet Jiyong’s, the skinny Alpha’s own darkening with the onslaught of emotions he was trying to suppress, the Omega already wincing and curling in on himself as Jiyong spoke to him through gritted teeth.

“Ri, we need to talk.”


	5. A Bit Tunnel Vision-y

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Here's Chapter 5. I wrote this all in one day (which for me is a BIG thing because I've not been able to do that since before I got depression)  
> However this may just be as hectic as the previous chapter because I'm writing through the pain of a slightly dislocated shoulder so I just basically typed away to keep my mind occupied.  
> So apologies for this. Anyway...I hope at least it's readable.
> 
> I also got told I should warn this chapter is very dialogue-heavy. Is that really a warning nowadays?

Biting down into his already heavily shredded lip, Seungri wrung his fingers together tightly as he fidgeted in his seat in front of the President’s desk. Keeping his eyes fixed on the way his feet twisted nervously beneath him, Seungri listened nervously at the sporadic sounds of disapproval that escaped the President’s lips as he scrolled through the messages on Seungri’s phone. Behind him, Jiyong paced agitatedly, feet almost stomping against the plush carpeting as if wanting the whole company below to know something was wrong. Youngbae sat silently beside him, a solid and comforting warmth against his side as he’d shuffled his chair as close as he could get away with, his own hands folded in his lap a bright pink from the amount of times he’d reached over to take Seungri’s own in support, only for Jiyong to pause in his pacing to slap at the Alpha’s hand. Seunghyun hovered silently against the side wall, partly to keep out the way, mainly so the man could ogle at the mass of bear bricks on display, only turning back to the situation at hand to throw Jiyong an annoyed glare every time Youngbae yelped in pain. Seunghyun had done his bit already, he’d called Daesung and told him to try and get hold of Changmin and Kyuhyun, and as far as the eldest was concerned that was all he needed to do—Jiyong was clearly stressing enough for the pair of them.

“Jiyong, please sit down. You’re making me anxious, I dread to think how you’re making poor Seungri feel.” The President suddenly murmured, eyes lifting momentarily from Seungri’s phone to stare at the still pacing Alpha. “I know this is a distressing discovery, but please try not to cause anymore tears or—“ he added, before pausing, his eyes flickering to the deepening mark on Youngbae’s hand. “—any significant injuries yes?”

With an almighty huff, that almost seemed to deflate him, Jiyong sighed and stopped his pacing and pulled one of the spare chairs across to the other side of Seungri. Yet instead of sitting down, the Alpha merely tapped Seungri on the shoulder and gestured for him to move along one, before sitting himself down between the Omega and Youngbae with a raised eyebrow of challenge, daring anyone to argue. Yet, Seungri had still not looked up from his shoes and had moved on instinct when Jiyong had tapped him, and Youngbae had merely rolled his eyes as Seunghyun snorted behind his hand, so Jiyong settled down to start tapping his foot against the carpet instead.

When Jiyong had confronted Seungri in the stairway about the text messages, the Omega had almost wanted to throw himself down the stairs simply for a way to escape the upcoming conversation. Yet the Alpha had instead directed all his anger over the messages at Youngbae, practically foaming at the mouth as he all but exploded verbally over the small kiss, proving how extensive his vocabulary really was as he spat as many synonyms for the word _‘pervert’_ at the smaller Alpha as he could think of. The only thing that had prevented him from physically laying into Youngbae as the elder remained stunned at the open hostility from his oldest friend, had been Seunghyun’s quick thinking to lock Jiyong’s arms behind his back.

Of course, this had distracted the furious Alpha enough for him to turn his attentions to Seungri, the Omega getting the same treatment as Youngbae. He was an idiot—why didn’t he tell someone—what if it got worse—why hadn’t he shown them the messages—it went on and on, Seungri hadn’t been aware how many alternative ways there were for the word _‘idiot’_ but it had seemed Jiyong did, and had subsequently called him all of them at least twice. And it wasn’t until Seungri could not take another single insult and had choked out a small sob in his attempts to keep calm and failed miserably that Jiyong stopped, his eyes wide in horror as if he’d only just realised what he’d been doing.

They hadn’t wasted time in dragging him to the President’s office, still dressed in the ridiculously tight concept outfit he’d been forced into that morning, pausing only long enough to grab his bags with his own clothes in before he was frogmarched away in case he tried to escape.

“Seungri. This is quite worrying, how did they get your number? Have you given your number out to people lately?” The President suddenly questioned, setting the phone down on the desk and fixing his soft gaze on the hunched up Omega, sighing slightly as the Omega simply shook his head in response.

“When I bumped into Ri earlier, he was on his way out the studio looking for someone.” Seunghyun murmured from his corner, blinking almost as if he’d just solved a great puzzle. “When Ji showed me the phone messages, the last one was sent just before I bumped into him. And Ji said the rest were sent at a time when they were recording.”

“So, it wasn’t just a random attack, whoever it was, was in the studio watching? Is that what you think Seunghyun?” President Yang replied, fingers folding into a steeple in thought, waiting until the eldest tentatively nodded before sighing, his forehead creasing as he frowned. “That would point to a staff member. Or someone who had snuck in posing as a member of staff.”

“It’s too much! It wasn’t that long ago that, that imbecile forced his way into Seungri’s dressing room despite all our rules!” Jiyong snapped, hands gesturing wildly. “How do we know it’s not the same guy?! What if he’s some kind of pervert fan who got the job so he could get to Seungri!?”

“hmm. _‘He’ll have to scrub his hands a long time to get rid of your filth’_ does not sound like the words of a pervert fan Jiyong. If anything it sounds more like a fan of Youngbae’s who’s too jealous about this duet.” Yang Hyunsuk countered, smiling lightly as Seunghyun and Youngbae nodded in agreement, despite Jiyong looking to them for backup.

“Then we stop the duet! This is dangerous Papa! Seungri could be at serious risk of Anti-fan antics if this carries on.” Jiyong stated, slapping his knee to reinforce his idea, even as Youngbae bristled beside him, hands starting to shake.

“Now Jiyong they’ve worked ha—“ President Yang started, knowing full well that Jiyong only called him _‘Papa’_ when he wanted something to go his way, before his argument was interrupted as Youngbae got to his feet, the chair rocking back and almost falling over with the force of his movements.

“This is dangerous? Seungri is at risk? Really Jiyong, maybe I should remind you that if all of this is true, that it is _your_ fault.” Youngbae snapped, grabbing his chair and dragging it round the other side and sitting rather violently next to Seungri once more. “You’re the one who wrote the songs about forbidden love, you’re the one who has been following us round all snap happy with a camera. _You_ are the one who has been in direct talks with the choreographer and video director about what to do. If Seungri is at risk then it’s entirely down to you and your micromanagement.”

“And may I remind you Youngbae that it is merely supposed to be a concept.” Jiyong hissed, voice dropping low to the point the room had to strain to hear him. “Your fans, and more importantly, _you_ should realise this. Seungri is not yours to mess around with.”

Risking a glance up from his feet, Seungri blinked through red and tear-puffed eyes at two of his Alpha Hyungs as they tried to glare each other down, both physically shaking in the effort to keep themselves from dissolving into physical blows. He’d not heard them refer to each other as _‘Youngbae’_ and _‘Jiyong’_ in all the years he’d known them, even when they argued they were always _‘Bae’_ and _‘Ji’_ just like his own name was quickly shorted to _‘Ri’_ once they’d gotten to know him. For them to be using full names they had to be beyond general anger with each other and that in itself was scary to comprehend. Seungri hadn’t even registered what was happening around him at first, he’d been too preoccupied by the revelation that everyone assumed the messages were from an anti-fan. They hadn’t wanted to talk about what the messages were about, they had wanted to talk about how to protect him from getting anymore. He could have jumped for joy and danced round the room if it wouldn’t have made everything even more suspicious, all they had were the messages from that morning, Seungri had always emptied his phone of the anonymous messages each time he’d received them. As far as his Hyung’s and President knew, this was a new thing. There were no incriminating messages about secrets and being ruined, nothing to be questioned about. He was in the clear.

“If you want to claim Seungri as your own Jiyong you should just say. Instead of trying to take all your frustrations out on me, you didn’t see the state Seungri was in earlier when I chased after him.” Youngbae snarled, now on his feet once again, Jiyong’s eyes narrowing at his words, the other Alpha getting elegantly to his own feet rather like a coiled predator waiting to attack.

“So what? He’s sobbing his heart out so you take advantage in a dark stairway and kiss him?” Jiyong purred, eyes darkening as he smirked evilly, Seungri quickly getting out of his seat and moving across to Seunghyun who was gesturing nervously for him to move out of the way. “What if we’d not turned up hmm? Would we have found Seungri used and tainted in the corner once you’d satisfied yourself?”

He had barely sat down next to Seunghyun on the floor of the President’s office when Jiyong’s words registered and Seungri felt his heart clench in pain. The way Jiyong had all but spat the word _‘tainted’_ had been filled with the traditional disgust most reserved for those rendered infertile, but to hear it from his Hyung, someone who he had always been so passionately protected by was a stab to the chest he hadn’t been quite expecting. Whilst he’d never necessarily found out his Hyungs views on infertility, Jiyong had always been quite famous—much like Changmin—for his non-conforming views on social roles, and if Seungri had been honest, he had been the one Seungri was the least concerned about finding out about his condition.

He knew that his Hyungs would have to re-evaluate everything they knew about Seungri if they ever found out about his past. Would probably have to decide just whether they wanted to be associated with him and most, if not all of them, would probably turn away from him. He hoped that they would have too much history for them to actually consider having him publically ridiculed and exiled or executed, but he wasn’t naïve enough to think they would still be the same around him, even less so after hearing the tone to Jiyong’s voice as it shattered any of his previous preconceptions about the Alpha.

In the few moments of ringing silence that followed Jiyong’s words no-one even dared to breathe as the atmosphere steadily changed. Then at once three things happened. The President snapped out of his shock and stood up to put an end to the argument, words of complaint for how far things had gotten already leaving his mouth, Seunghyun wrapped his arms round Seungri protectively, tugging the Omega’s head against his chest, and Youngbae cracked, the blond Alpha a blur as he leapt forward, fist colliding with an almost sickening thud against the plush of Jiyong’s cheek.

Everything seemed to freeze as Jiyong was sent scattering back across the floor, his cheekbone already starting to swell, a deep rivulet of blood blossoming and bubbling from under the skin from where Youngbae’s ring had sliced across his flesh, his eyes wide as he blinked up at the blond Alpha still hovering close by. Said blond Alpha was still convulsing with the intensity of his harsh panting, fingers flexing through the pain in his knuckles, trembling from the tips of his fingers to the whites of his eyes, yet more than ready to throw another punch should Jiyong say something else demeaning.

“How—How _dare_ you?! Never mind accusing me of…of that, but to insult Ri like that?” Youngbae growled, voice dangerously low as took a step back to try and control himself. “If you think I would do something like that you clearly aren’t the best friend I thought you were. You owe Seungri an apology for transforming him into an Alpha’s play toy with no mind of his own. Maybe it's  _you_ who shouldn’t be alone with Seungri if that’s the way you think.”

And with the words still hanging, thick and tense in the air of the office, the remaining onlookers stunned into position as the oldest friends seemingly fell apart before their eyes, Youngbae span on his heel, sparing Seungri a small glance of apology—a slight look filled with more mental agony then the Omega had ever believed possible could exist in one person—before he stormed out of the office, door slamming shut behind him.

“Seunghyun. Why don’t you take Seungri home hmm? Call Daesung and tell him—if he’s not already—to get in contact with Changmin and let them all know that you’re taking Ri home. I think having his friends around will help now.” Yang Hyunsuk whispered softly, voice barely audible even in the oppressing silence cloaking the office. “I want to have a word with Jiyong.”

It didn’t take long for Seunghyun to all but scoop the little Omega up and bodily walk him out of the office, muttering gently against the ear of the shell-shocked male still blinking furiously in confusion. Seungri for his part, letting himself be manoeuvred as his Hyung pleased, too caught up in his concern for Youngbae and his friendship with Jiyong, mind whirling as he tried to come up with ideas of how to fix the foundations that had suddenly crumbled beneath the pair of them, not even registering until sometime later that he had been taken home and wrapped in a blanket on his sofa whilst Seunghyun went to make another phone call.

“Jiyong. I don’t say this very often—if at all when it concerns you—but you have disappointed me today.” President Yang murmured as he moved to crouch carefully in front of the still sprawled male, gently reaching with a handkerchief to wipe at the young Alpha’s face. “You know how strongly Youngbae believes in his ideas of equality. You also know how protective he is of Seungri and yet you go and accuse him of being nothing short of a molester.”

“He wasn’t being protective today. That wasn’t protection that was seduction, plain and simple.” Jiyong spat, wincing slightly as the movement of his jaw aggravated his injury, not bothering to speak until he was pulled to his feet and guided by a kind arm round his waist to the lounger against the side wall. “He kissed him. In the stairway…after he’d been getting all in Seungri’s face and touchy after the video recording.”

“So you think that gives you the right to accuse him of trying to taint Seungri, something which is still the biggest dishonour imaginable amongst us all?” The President questioned softly as he perched himself on the arm of the sofa. “I know you were trying to protect Seungri’s honour, but your words were an insult to Seungri as well Jiyong. You basically implied he was weak willed and would let himself be tainted. That he had no honour.”

“Seungri wouldn’t be like that! Seungri wouldn’t let himself be tainted.” Jiyong hissed, pressing the handkerchief to his face, missing the slight wince that crossed the President’s face.

“You believe an Omega chooses to let themselves be tainted? That the blame for being tainted lies with the Omega because they didn’t do enough to fight?” The President questioned, voice tight as he sat up straighter, quickly changing the subject. “Jiyong…Was Youngbae right? Do you…like Seungri?”

“What?! No!” Jiyong snapped quickly in response, yelping slightly as his cheek throbbed. “I just…he’s my little Brother. I don’t want him to find an Alpha at all until he’s at least thirty five and ready!”

Standing up with a soft sigh, the President moved to his desk and called down to his Secretary to bring up an ice pack wrapped in a towel for Jiyong’s face, the Alpha’s cheek and eye already starting to blacken. He wasn’t sure how to deal with his favourite Alpha’s behaviour, Jiyong despite his diva personality had always been incredibly level headed amongst the Idol world, having been involved since he was just a child and having learnt quickly how to keep his mind set. But this was so unlike Jiyong that he was at a loss of what to do, it hadn’t slipped his notice that the younger had failed to answer his question about infertile Omegas and he hoped it had just escaped Jiyong’s mind to respond, rather than the young male actually agreeing with what he’d questioned.

“Do you not agree it would be better for Seungri to bond with an Alpha he knew, and more importantly one that _we_ knew?” President Yang queried, head tilting as he perched on his desk. “Someone who we know would take care of him and respect him like Youngbae does? Who wouldn’t use him or hurt him?” he added, before getting up and heading to the door to leave. “You should think on that Jiyong. You’re being selfish and controlling for your own comfortability and no other good reason. I would much rather have Seungri end up with someone who I already trusted like Youngbae.” He finished as he closed the office door behind him, leaving the young Alpha inside to brood and nurse his injuries while he headed off to do some damage control and find out just who was sending his little Omega nasty messages, not liking the way things were going both internally and externally for the young man he considered to be his youngest son.

Climbing out of bed a few hours later, Seungri groaned and stretched his arms over his head, unable to stop from wincing as his spine popped in all the right places. He wasn’t sure what time it was, after Seunghyun had returned from making his phone calls, the eldest had picked him up and tucked him into bed telling him to rest as he ran his fingers through Seungri’s thick curls in a sign of rare affection. From what the Omega could work out, it was now dark outside, meaning he’d missed dinner yet after everything he’d seen that day he wasn’t quite sure whether he could stomach eating at all.

Opening the door quietly, Seungri padded down from his bedroom towards the kitchen, frowning slightly confused as he found the light on. For a moment he panicked, thinking someone had broken in and was currently rummaging round his Kitchen drawers trying to find something valuable to steal, before his sleep-fogged mind provided his memory with some recognition of Seunghyun declaring he would be staying around to keep an eye on him.

“Should we wake him up? He’s been asleep for a while now.” Suddenly floated through from the open doorway, causing the Omega to pause in the shadows, pressed against the wall out of nervous curiosity, partly as to who was in the Kitchen with Seunghyun, but also what they were discussing, his mind threatening to betray him with snide pokes to the back of his paranoid brain that they would not hide how they truly felt about him if they thought he was asleep still.

“No. Let him sleep, he went through a lot today and he needs his rest.” Seunghyun’s deep voice suddenly responded, fingers tapping agitatedly against the kitchen table. “If he wakes up later hungry I’ll order us some take-out or something.”

“Have you managed to get hold of Youngbae Hyung yet?” another voice, which was clearly Daesung queried, voice rough and sore sounding from potential over-use at his latest hosting job, Seungri knowing the Beta would have repeatedly recorded things just to make sure it was the best possible.

“No. I tried to ring him and got no response. When I went round after you all got here he wouldn’t answer the door for ages. And then it was the President who answered and he told me that Bae didn’t want to see anyone because he was too wound up.” Seunghyun replied, his words accompanied by a long sigh, the eldest Alpha sounding like he could do with a nap himself.

“Wouldn’t you be if Jiyong-sshi accused you of practically raping Seungri?” Kyuhyun, Seungri’s brain supplied, his eyes widening as he listened. He hadn’t thought of what Jiyong had said, purely because the pain in his chest only seemed to intensify as he recalled the way the Alpha had spoken about tainting as if it were a worse fate then death. The Omega hadn’t really taken the time to see things from Youngbae’s point of view, but he realised his Beta Hyung was right, Jiyong had all but stated that if they hadn’t turned up, Youngbae would have raped him in the dark stairway.

“This is why I say working with Alphas is dangerous if you’re an Omega.” Changmin snapped suddenly, the group in the Kitchen having fallen silent in the aftermath of Kyuhyun’s words. “Youngbae-sshi might not be anything like Yunho Hyung, considering he actually knows what the words ‘back off’ mean. But as you can see by today, things always go bad in some way or another, and it’s always the Omega who ends up hurt and in the middle.”

Anything else Seungri had been hoping to overhear, was lost at the sharp knock on the front door, the Omega barely having enough time to dart back to his room on tiptoes and slide the door closed once more, before the four chairs scraped back across the kitchen floor, all of his Hyungs curious to see who was visiting at such a late hour.

A few moments later though, just as he’d sank back across his bed with a sigh, resigning himself to a night laid staring at the ceiling wondering whether his career was worth the destruction of Jiyong and Youngbae’s friendship, Changmin’s words ringing in his ears that he would always be in the middle, and knowing the only way he would ever get out of the middle would be to remove himself; Changmin himself gently nudged his way through the doorway, peering carefully into the darkened gloom to try and find his best friend, a small smile crossing his lips as he spotted his fellow Omega awake and sprawled like a starfish.

“Who was at the door?” Seungri murmured as Changmin gingerly stepped his way across to the bed and dropped down into a similar sprawl, half laid across the younger male.

“No idea. I came here whilst Daesung-sshi went to answer the door.” Changmin answered simply, before rolling over and draping himself across Seungri’s spread frame, ignoring the huff of protest at the sudden weight across his chest from the male below him. “You hungry?”

“I was until you crushed my stomach.” Seungri complained, hitting half-heartedly at Changmin’s shoulder, only to whine as the elder slapped him sharply against his hip. “Get off before my internal organs turn to mush.”

Yet despite his whining and light shoving, Changmin refused to remove himself from across his best friend, his only response being to silently slide sideward to allow Seungri more room to breathe, settling down against the younger Omega’s side and curling protectively around him. If Seungri was honest, he hadn’t wanted Changmin to move, the elder always managed to be a key pillar in the foundations of his moral support, and always knew what to do or say—or indeed if he should do or say anything at all—that continuously left Seungri with the feeling of contentment that at least someone in his life knew what he needed without him having to say.

“Are you going to tell me what happened today? But from your perspective? So far all I’ve had is disjointed bits from Seunghyun-sshi based on what Jiyong-sshi had explained happened before he’d turned up at the studio.” Changmin whispered, reaching over his head to the small drawer in the bedside table and retrieving one of the mini foil wrapped chocolates he knew the smaller male always kept at hand, seemingly content with uncurling the foil delicately and popping the chocolate into his mouth and letting it melt naturally on his tongue, rather than pushing Seungri to answer.

And he wasn’t sure what it was, but Seungri felt the guards he’d been steadily building around himself once again start to crumble as he was tugged tighter into his best friend’s arms and he started to talk. Once he’d registered that acting suspicious and highly strung emotionally would only cause his Hyungs to find out his secret faster, Seungri had started to lock himself away once again, determined to get back to his innocent but determined frame of mind. But whether it was simply the fact Changmin was his best friend who had taken it as his own personal task to see how many members of society he could shock with his highly controversial opinions on a TV show and thus was a naturally open minded person—or whether it was more the idea that Changmin was an Omega himself caught between Kyuhyun and Yunho, albeit with different circumstances to how Seungri was caught between the two Alphas, but still in a similar situation able to provide first-hand experience based advice; he didn’t know.

All he did know was that once he started talking he couldn’t stop. He explained about the day dancing, how Youngbae had reacted once they’d finished, the text messages, the weird conversations between his Hyungs, the staff member leaving, the running away—although he changed his reason for running away to being a sense of self-sacrifice to appease the fans of Youngbae’s he’d offended—before he tentatively told his best friend about the kiss and the following explosive mess that had erupted in the President’s office between the two best friends.

Changmin for his part stayed silent, the only real indication he was still listening being the slight squeeze around Seungri’s sides every time the little Omega’s voice started to fail him and break as the emotion threatened to overwhelm him once again. And he stayed that way for a while longer, even as Seungri’s story drew to a close and the younger turned to bury his face away in Changmin’s chest, all but attempting to burrow into the solid muscle in his attempts to hide, inexplicably nervous about what his best friend was going to say.

“Look, apart from seeing him on music shows, I can’t say I know Jiyong-sshi that well.” Changmin began, fingers dancing almost subconsciously along the ridge of Seungri’s spine. “But he’s not a bad guy. I don’t think he meant to insult you…I just, I think when it comes to you he just gets a bit tunnel vision-y.”

“What do you mean?” Seungri murmured around the mouthful of Changmin’s shirt he was practically swallowing from being pressed as close as he was to his best friend.

“I mean, ever since you joined YG, every single member of the company whether staff or idols, actors or MCs etc. They’ve all been working to create rules and regulations to keep you safe. Sure your Hyungs and President came up with them, but they are followed by the entire company, and then the staff at venues and studios galore as well.” Changmin began, fingers moving to gently slide through the sleep-matted curls at the back of Seungri’s head. “Ever since you arrived, every move has been created to protect you from being harassed and followed, insulted and kissed in dark stairways and…prevent much worse from happening in those stairways. And Jiyong-sshi has been the pivotal figure in all of that.”

“I-I still don’t get what you mean Hyung.” Seungri admitted almost sheepishly, leaning back into his best friend’s hand to peer up at the elder through the dark.

“Basically Ri, for the past ten years or however long you’ve been here, your safety and privacy have been _the_ main focus of Jiyong-sshi’s behaviour around you. Now imagine if you had someone to take care of like that? And from the age of fourteen. Not only will it be hard to stop from only seeing them as that little fourteen year old they were first aiming to protect, but after all the effort you’d put in, someone YOU had trusted to uphold the rules broke them by kissing your charge…you wouldn’t be happy would you?” Changmin continued, smiling gently as he prodded teasingly behind Seungri’s ears, simply as a sign of weird affection.

“Well…I guess not no.” Seungri muttered, nose scrunching in thought, one hand automatically lifting to rub at his ear from where Changmin had poked him. “If I’d put all the time and effort in, and they’d agreed to follow the rules and then broken them...”

“See? I just think Jiyong-sshi is irritated, he probably saw Youngbae-sshi kiss you and alarm bells went off in his head that someone had broken the rules he helped create and he needed to get you out of there.” Changmin chuckled softly, poking Seungri again, but in the neck this time, laugh increasing as the other Omega twitched in response. “I’m not justifying what he said, he should never have insulted you or Youngbae-sshi like that. But the rules he’d probably thought were water-tight were broken so easily within a few minutes, combined with the worry over your text messages…he just needed an outlet and all the reasons he was concerned and had helped create the rules for in the first place came to the forefront of his mind and he lashed out at the one who had broken them. Even though as far as we can all tell…their intentions were honourable.”

“I…Thanks Hyung.” Seungri sighed, tucking his head into the elder’s neck and closing his eyes, content with the rare sign of affection as it helped to soothe his increasingly frazzled nerves, not even bothering to move as the door opened carefully or even as Daesung crept across to speak to him softly.

“Ri that was Papa. He brought you back your phone, although he’s buying you a new one, and also he wanted to apologise for what happened earlier.” Daesung stage-whispered as he moved round to climb onto the end of the bed, hands gently moving to rub along the bottom dip of Seungri’s spine. “He also said not to worry about Ji Hyung and Bae Hyung. Bae Hyung is pretty calm now and Ji Hyung had come home and barricaded himself in his room, but from what he can hear through the door, he’s writing music. So other than a few angst filled songs, I think he’ll be fine. But they all want to know how you are.”

Yet Daesung received no response as both he and Changmin glanced down at the Maknae, only to realise he was fast asleep once again, having drifted off once he’d heard both his Hyungs were home safe and okay, if not a bit wound up slightly still. It had been better than he’d expected to hear, and it had been just enough to ease his worries to the point he could fall asleep once again, his body desperate to catch up with the sleep he’d lost over the past week from stressing too much.

Setting Seungri’s phone down on his bedside table, Daesung helped Changmin extract himself from the younger male’s grip, before the pair of them tucked him in and returned to the Kitchen, none of the gathered group particularly ready to leave Seungri by himself just yet, more for their own sake rather than his. Feeling far too paranoid after the eventful day to let him out of their sight at all.


	6. Another Set Of Rules Entirely

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for how long this took. I had exams and then had to find somewhere to live for the next year of University....then I had written the majority of this chapter, only for my computer to break down and lose it. So I had to re-write it from scratch.
> 
> But here it is. I hope it's okay. Thank you for staying with this fic despite the wait.
> 
> Also, I should probably warn there is vulgar language and mild violence towards the end of this chapter.

Settling further down into the small park-like bench of the complex’s private rooftop garden, Seungri sighed and absentmindedly brushed his fingers across the keys of his laptop keyboard; tracing an unseen pattern through the letters as his mind began to wander. It had been almost ten days since his two Alpha Hyungs had come to blows in the President’s office, both verbally and physically, and despite the pair of them having long since calmed down and cooled off, there was still no sign of the situation being resolved any time soon. Everyone knew the pair were both equally as stubborn in their ways, headstrong in the following of their own ideals and quick to rebuke any belief that was not their own. And so it wasn’t really a surprise to the rest of YG that they both refused to apologise first, putting the blame firmly on each other and getting incredibly offended should anyone suggest to them otherwise.

Seungri was all but ready to pull the curls out of his head in frustration at the whole situation, and he seemed to be the only one concerned the two practically-life-long friends weren’t even willing to be in the same vicinity as each other. He had of course tried to visit his two Hyungs on repeat occasions over the past ten days, naively hoping if he apologised to both Youngbae and Jiyong for being the cause of their arguing, it would set off a domino effect and persuade the hot-headed pair to do the same with each other. Yet each attempt had been met with resistance and ignorance from everyone.

He had tried to visit Jiyong first; ever since the argument and his resultant locking himself in his room, Seunghyun had been staying on Seungri’s sofa. At first Jiyong had simply been keeping him awake all hours of the night with his angst-filled torment of his personal music studio that didn’t seem to lull even as the system started to overheat. But when Seunghyun had snapped and barged his way into Jiyong’s room demanding he stop for at least one night so he could get some sleep, Jiyong’s temper had flared once again and before he could really register what was going on, Seunghyun had found himself unceremoniously pushed out of the apartment and locked out without his keys. When he’d tried to go back the next morning, Jiyong had anticipated his return and had simply left a bag with Seunghyun’s clothes and toiletries inside it in the hallway, leaving the eldest Alpha to slouch back to Seungri’s feeling remotely pathetic as he begged to take over his sofa for the foreseeable future.

Seungri had hoped that if he spoke to Jiyong and apologised, the Alpha would feel better and allow Seunghyun to return back to his own apartment. Or at least he had been hoping so anyway; as much as he had enjoyed his eldest Hyungs company for a while, Seunghyun had decided that by lodging with Seungri it was his duty to know his whereabouts every minute of every day and to be his bodyguard, checking his fan mail for anything nasty, constantly checking his phone for more vulgar text messages, standing over his shoulder when Seungri checked his emails or his fan café website. It had gotten worse once Seungri was sick, three days in, of being trapped inside. He had gone up to the roof garden one early morning, and Seunghyun had panicked and called everyone when he’d woken up to find the apartment empty. The eldest had been moments away from ringing the Police when Daesung had queried whether he’d checked the roof garden. When Seunghyun had found him, Seungri had almost gone deaf as the man had projected all of his panic into a loud rant, the likes most of them had never seen from the normally stoic male. Since that morning Seunghyun had followed him everywhere or demanded constant updates despite the fact Seungri wasn’t even allowed out of the building.

However, when Seungri had timidly knocked at the door to Jiyong and Seunghyun’s apartment, the Omega had felt his stomach twist as he heard the distinct sound of Jiyong’s slouching walk across to the door and the click of his ring covered fingers pressing against the door as he peered out of the peephole, only to walk back off without a word a few tense moments later. And no matter how long Seungri stood there knocking and calling gently for Jiyong to at least _tell_ him to go away, instead of just ignoring him, the Alpha refused to come back to the door.

His attempts at talking to Youngbae had been just as pointless, if not worse, than with Jiyong. Seungri had tried one early morning whilst the rest of the complex were still asleep—Seungri and Youngbae had always been the early risers amongst the company—when he knew the Alpha would be up and training in his mini gym he’d set up in his spare room. After the disaster with trying to talk to Jiyong, Seungri had been preparing for a lot as he knocked at Youngbae’s door, but he hadn’t quite expected for Youngbae to appear, all smiles and half naked clearly mid-work out, only to register who it was stood at his door. Before Seungri could even open his mouth, Youngbae had yelped like a dog who’d just been kicked in the stomach, the smile dropping off his face to be replaced by a look of uttermost horror before he’d violently slammed the door shut and ran off into the safety of his gym. And despite his constant knocking, Seungri heard Youngbae’s training playlist getting steadily louder and louder until even _he_ couldn’t hear his own knocking.

Youngbae’s reaction had hurt. Seungri had tried to deny it, but there was no escaping the throat squeezing sense of rejection he had felt as Youngbae’s eyes had darkened upon seeing him. Of course, Seunghyun and Daesung had sensed his upset when they’d found him that afternoon once more hiding up on the roof garden, and when they’d dragged the reasoning out of him, the eldest had been all for going back down and giving Youngbae a taste of his recently explosive temper as well.

Realising in his absent musings he’d ended up accidently writing a pile of gibberish letters across his open document page, Seungri muttered angrily to himself and violently jabbed at the backspace key until the page was clear once again. He had come up to the garden that morning initially just to escape the suffocating claustrophobic aura cloaking his apartment, the Omega convinced he was days away from developing cabin fever. Yet he had been sat staring into space for a few moments as he watched the bench he was slouched on casting strange shadows across the floor from the sunlight behind him, before he’d realised he was humming a random improvised tune and it had sounded rather good.

The Omega had quickly raced back down to grab his laptop before returning, eager to see if he could write a song by himself, yet once he’d gotten his virtual piano software open and the improvised tune played out, his mind had swiftly slammed the door to his inspiration shut and Seungri had been left pressing mindlessly at keys for the past four hours, trying to coax it back open again.

Hearing a noise behind him as someone came up the stairs, Seungri checked the time on his watch and rolled his eyes, it was about time Seunghyun woke up and became his personal shadow once again. At least now he came to check the rooftop before trying to put the company on red alert, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t aggravate the Omega. Not bothering to turn around or even acknowledge the arrival of what he assumed was Seunghyun, Seungri carried on tapping at the keys as he spoke.

“Yes, I’m here, no I’m not depressed and getting ready to throw myself off the roof, I have not been kidnapped, I have not tried to talk to the two stubborn heads again, so no I’m not ‘broken hearted’ as you keep claiming, I’m trying to write and get some peace so go bother Daesungie Hyung for a while please.”

“Stubborn heads?” came the part confused, but obviously amused response from the doorway in a voice he hadn’t expected to hear.

“J-Ji Hyung!” Seungri exclaimed as he span round in his seat, almost sending his laptop crashing to the floor, eyes wide as he blinked rapidly at the now fidgeting male stood hunched over, hands in his pockets, cigarette hanging limply from his lips. “I-I’m sorry, I thought you were Seunghyun Hyung.”

“Oh. Daesung told me he’d turned into a puppy following you round.” Jiyong muttered, flicking the bangs out of his face with a small twitch of his head. Seungri for his part felt his inside clench almost painfully at his Hyung’s words. Jiyong had been talking to Daesung, had granted Daesung access where Seungri had repeatedly attempted to get, and didn’t it hurt like a knife to the chest? His pain must have shown on his features, as Jiyong’s entire demeanour changed and he removed the cigarette from his lips and turned to head back downstairs. “Sorry. I’ll…leave you be.”

“No!” Seungri all but yelled as he quickly leapt to his feet, barely remembering to set his laptop safely on the bench beside him as he did so. “I mean…please. This is for everyone, not just me. You clearly came up here to smoke so…please. If…If you don’t want to be around me, I can head back down it’s okay.”

As Jiyong turned back to face him, Seungri got a proper look at his Hyung now he had a moment to calm down. The elder looked awful, his already angular features had sunken into almost sharp edges, his eyes dark and cheeks hollow beneath the now razor sharp cheekbones, his collarbones rising like battlements out the low dip collar of his shirt as it hung limply off his bony stature. He clothing bore the signs of fitful infrequent naps from passing out more than necessity, his hair was slicked to one side, colour darkened and lanky from the combination of being unwashed and abused by ruthless fingers.

“I…” Jiyong started, clearly thinking things over as he cast a wary glance over his shoulder down the stairway as if expecting Seunghyun to come charging to the Omega’s rescue. “…I never said I didn’t want you around Ri.” He eventually added, admittedly the only thing he could think of to say, the situation a lot more awkward then he’d ever envisioned.

“Come sit down then. You look like you need a good smoke.” Seungri had replied, smiling shyly as he chuckled, hoping the attempted injection of humour would soften his obvious comment about how dreadful his Hyung looked.

Nodding jerkily, Jiyong shuffled across to the bench, and once Seungri moved his laptop back onto his own lap, gingerly perched himself on the edge of it. From the corner of his eye, Jiyong watched as Seungri nervously fidgeted with the keys on his laptop, the tension evident in the soft sweep of his shoulders, spine rigid as he held himself upright, attempting to look at ease and failing miserably. With only the slight profile view to go on, Jiyong could still see how the past ten days had taken their toll on the Omega just as much. The dark circles cupped beneath his eyes had long since evolved from their natural smudge into an actual sign of sleep depravity, his hair just as finger-dishevelled as Jiyong’s own.

Realising he’d been visibly staring, cigarette still unlit and limp betwixt his lips, Jiyong quickly flipped open his lighter to do so, watching the end of the tobacco burn and shrivel for a moment before slamming the lighter shut against his jeans with a natural flourish. Taking a long drag, watching almost amused as Seungri’s nose twitched as it was tickled by the burning tendrils of smoke, Jiyong tried to ignore the way his throat tightened in guilt.

The day after Seungri had attempted to visit him, Jiyong had woken up slumped over the mechanics in his mini-studio having passed out in exhaustion, only to nearly lose ten years off his life as he found Daesung stood over him glaring disapprovingly. The Alpha had been unable to work out why Seungri had come round to see him, and the lack of answers had blocked his creativity until he’d given up frustrated and slumped over the tech board and eventually fallen asleep. Of course, Daesung had no interest in any of that, and had simply chewed him out over how his selfishness had once again deeply, emotionally wounded, the little Omega he was supposed to be so focused on protecting. The Beta had blitzed his apartment with an arsenal of cleaning products once he’d bodily forced Jiyong into the shower, clothes and all, before promptly clipping Jiyong round the head, telling him to do something to make it up to Seungri, or next time he wouldn’t be so polite.

Jiyong didn’t really think being verbally and physically assaulted on multiple occasions in the space of an hour was considered polite, but he’d nodded in agreement anyway just to appease the Beta practically spitting feathers. It had taken him another three days to get enough courage to even unlock the front door, and another four hours sat in the entranceway staring at the door handle to actually force himself to get up and go outside. If the Alpha was honest, he had come up to the rooftop garden to have a smoke to give himself some ‘Dutch courage’ but that plan had backfired when he’d found Seungri already there, lost in his thoughts.

“So…”

“Ri look…”

Clacking his jaws shut as they both started and stopped talking at the same time, Jiyong watched as Seungri’s lips twitched in badly disguised amusement, his own threatening to mirror it as the Omega gestured for him to continue, already starting to visibly relax next to his Hyung.

“Ri…Look…” He echoed, taking another long drag to try and make his fingers stop shaking with the nerves, or at least give himself a nicotine rush to explain the shake away with. “I…I want to apologise.”

“For what?” Seungri muttered, head tilting in mild curiosity, causing Jiyong to pause as he tried to work out whether the Omega had already forgiven him, or was simply asking which part of the past ten days he felt deserved an apology.

“Well…for everything really.” The Alpha murmured between small drags in quick succession as he inwardly cringed. He was supposed to be the lyrical master of YG, able to write twenty songs on the same topic, all different and all guaranteed hits, and yet here he was bordering on stuttering for a simple apology. “For what I did and said in the President’s office and before…as well as the other day when I ignored your visit.” He added, feeling like he shouldn’t be as proud of such a vague and badly phrased apology as he was.

“Hyung.” Seungri sighed, watching as the elder quickly drained his cigarette like he was at risk of having it stolen off him. “Why are you apologising?”

“Huh?” Jiyong reacted, before inwardly rolling his eyes at himself. Eloquent as ever it seemed.

“Are you apologising because you’re being forced to by one of the others? Or because you feel guilty for ignoring me?” Seungri explained, setting the laptop down as he turned more to face the Alpha. “Or are you apologising because you actually feel like you did something wrong that needs atoning for? Because I don’t want an apology from you unless it’s the latter. If you’re apologising because of guilt or pressure, it’s not really an apology. It’s meaningless and I don’t want those kind of apologies.”

“But…I…”

“Hyung no.”

They both spoke at the same time once again, yet this time Seungri held up a small hand in silent request for Jiyong to keep quiet while he finished.

“It doesn’t change anything. You’re still my Hyung, you’re still as important to me and I want us to be back to normal with each other and not sat here tense like we’re about to resort to violence. But I don’t need an apology for that. I just need my Hyung looking out for me again.” Seungri stated, turning briefly to grab the ash tray off the small picnic table beside the bench before holding it out to Jiyong like some bizarre peace offering. “Changmin said that you’d spent ten years going all out to keep me safe with the others, and that how you were was just a knee jerk reaction to seeing your plans falling apart around your feet. I understand that, I do. But it’s not me you need to apologise to Hyung, you _need_ to talk to Bae Hyung.”

“He’ll demand I apologise to you first.” Jiyong murmured, taking the ash tray and crushing the tab of his cigarette into it, slightly too violently. “If he doesn’t punch me on sight.”

“Then tell him you have. You have apologised, and we are okay now. He doesn’t need to know the technicalities behind the acceptance of your apology does he?” Seungri smiled, before it all but fell off in shock as Jiyong suddenly turned and tugged him into a tight hug, pointed chin digging into the crook of his neck.

“Okay. I’ll try. But if he breaks my nose this time you can pay for the cosmetic surgery to make me good looking again.” Jiyong chuckled as he squeezed the substantially-slimmer-than-he-remembered waist of the Omega, before turning serious once again. “And…listen, I can’t say I feel like I did wrong with how I called Bae out on his actions, and…yes I was angry at you for letting yourself so easily be swept away like that…But how I treated you, and how I spoke to you and…how I spoke to Bae, yes…it makes me feel guilty, but guilty because I know I did wrong and should apologise for it and try to atone for it. So…I’m sorry for how I spoke to you, and how I treated you, and I apologise for how negatively I reacted, but not for what I reacted to.”

“That’s fine Hyung. I forgive you…and I understand okay? Whilst I might disagree and think you should have more faith in your oldest friend, I understand how you reacted like you did.” Seungri muttered, happily burying his nose into the shoulder of Jiyong’s shirt.

“No you don’t.” Jiyong stage-whispered some minutes silence later. “You don’t understand why I reacted that way. We have set of rules we created without telling you. As you started to get older and started to progress from cute to handsome. All three of us agreed to them, the order of how we’d go about things should one of us fall for you and want you to be our bonded. _That_ is why I reacted that way, Bae broke _those_ rules, not the ones you and Changmin-sshi know about.”

“Y-You what?” Seungri croaked as his blood ran cold in panic, fingers subconsciously twitching against the back of Jiyong’s shirt. “W-Why would you have rules like that? Why would you not tell me them?” He all but whined, attempting to pull back from the hug as Jiyong’s arms tightened in worry.

After the first nights brief discussion before Seungri had fallen asleep, the pair of Omegas had, had incredibly long text and phone conversations about the way the Alphas had reacted to each other, piling theory after theory on top of each other to try and come up with something better to explain the violent reaction other than simply _‘to protect Ri’s honour’_. In the end the pair of them had simply settled for said idea, purely because it made the most sense and fit more into Jiyong’s mind-set of taking everyone on as his responsibility. But they had never considered the possibility that Youngbae was breaking another set of rules entirely, a set of rules that; providing Jiyong was right in his assumptions, meant Youngbae had more than just a couple concept on his mind. And that was what had sent Seungri into a panic. Just as he thought he was starting to keep a barrier between himself and his Hyungs once again, here they were again attacking them from a different angle, and Seungri was convinced some higher power was determined to torment him daily with a new possibility of his secret being discovered.

“Ri…We had to. You’re an Omega, the three of us are Alphas, it was always a very strong possibility that one or more of us would end up falling for you. And if not us falling for you, there was always the fact you may want one of us to consider.” Jiyong explained, finally pulling back to stare at Seungri, concern for the Omega darkening his irises. “I mean, you were adorable when you joined us, and then as you got older and you stopped being so…squishy…and we suddenly had Alphas and Betas paying a lot of attention to our little debuted trainee. And that only grew as you matured so quickly. You and Changmin-sshi are the two most popular celebrity Omegas.”

“But…” Seungri started, ready to rebuke the idea of being on the same level of attractiveness as Changmin who was often referred to as the Adonis in human form, before Jiyong quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, the Omega trying not to grimace at the sudden scent of stale tobacco on Jiyong’s fingers hit his nostrils.

“No, Ri. I’m serious, you and Changmin-sshi are polar opposites and you appeal to different people. But you are incredibly attractive and we had to prepare for that. I mean it Ri, if I didn’t consider you my little brother, I probably would have been tempted.” Jiyong continued, sounding slightly exasperated at the Omegas bizarre lack of confidence. “But Bae broke the rules, twice.”

“But he hasn’t.” Seungri spluttered, wrenching his head away from Jiyong’s rather stubborn hand, purposefully ignoring Jiyong’s previous comment. “He isn’t interested, he was just…shocking me to calm me down or…whatever. Besides, you know how he views equality and wants his Omega to be the one to pursue him so he’s never concerned he’s pressuring someone. Did you even think to ASK him why he did it before accusing him of rule breaking?!”

“Ugh.” Jiyong grunted, the look painted across his face telling Seungri quite clearly he thought he was being a naïve idiot about the whole thing, before it disappeared with a roll of his eyes, the Alpha getting to his feet. “Fine. I’ll go ask him now and we’ll see.” He added before stomping off back down into the building, leaving Seungri alone with his laptop and his thoughts once again, along with the distinct feeling Jiyong’s interrogation of Youngbae wouldn’t go the way he’d envisioned.

Crossing his legs at the ankle as elegantly as he could whilst perched precariously on the stupidly inappropriate stools the television studio had chosen for their guests to sit on, Changmin tried to keep the tight smile on his face from turning sour in disgust. He was supposed to be focusing on whatever ridiculous new spiel Yunho was sprouting to the MC, he knew that once the elder finally managed to take a breath, the MC would ask Changmin for his opinion on what had been said. But all the Omega could do was sit and focus all of his attention into stopping himself from snapping Yunho’s fingers that were currently fidgeting through the waves of his hair, in what the Omega could only assume was supposed to be a delicate, affectionate display. Changmin on the other hand was convinced if Yunho’s slightly sticky fingers kept it up, the Omega would be lucky if he got backstage with any hair at all, he felt like a chicken being plucked for thanksgiving and it was definitely not affectionate.

Out the corner of his peripheral vision, Changmin could see Kyuhyun stood just out of camera shot backstage, looking torn between laughing at the Omegas obvious distress—that is, obvious to anyone who wasn’t Yunho—and stomping on stage, cameras be damned, to snap Yunho’s fingers himself. After the huge issue with Seungri and his nasty text messages, as well as the eruption with how easily it had been to get into the Omegas vicinity, the Beta had been even more paranoid about protecting Changmin. He had reasoned that since Seungri and Changmin were so publicly close friends, that Changmin could be in the firing line next by association. In all honesty, Changmin privately hoped he did get some kind of ridiculous text insulting him, he’d been eager for someone to vent his notoriously rather eloquently worded rage at, and that would be the perfect opportunity. And if it put them off insulting Seungri again, then even better.

Feeling a tug to his earlobe, something Changmin despised regardless of who did it, the Omega yelped rather loudly and snapped his attention back to the Alpha perched beside him glare all ready to burn the other for his insolence, belatedly realising the man was smirking at him as the MC and audience laughed at his reaction.

“I think Minnie-yah is a bit distracted today, he hasn’t eaten yet.” Yunho teased, voice smooth as he all but purred and puppy-eye attacked the MC before turning his simpering sweet smile back to Changmin. “Don’t worry Minnie-yah, once we finish I’ll take you out and you can eat as much as you like, my treat.”

As the audience and MC practically fainted from fawning over the adorable display, their _‘oohs’_ and _‘ahhs’_ audible throughout the studio, even from the staff behind the scenes, Changmin fought the urge to throw up. He hated that pet name, he was not a mouse in a red and white polka dot dress, nor was he an eight year old who used a cute name to back up his aegyo. Despite the fact he was inwardly seething in disgust, Changmin ducked his head awkwardly and scratched at the back of his head as he apologised to the MC and audience, thanking Yunho for his offer, his thanks just on the awkward side of polite as he fidgeted in his seat. The action was enough to appease the MC and audience; who all but cooed at his response, and played well into their company’s concept of him being awkward and supposedly awe-struck around the Alpha.

He could practically see his management backstage behind him nodding in approval at his behaviour, and if it kept them off his case about his public image then he was willing to do it. But that’s all it was. An image, originally designed to draw in the fans with the possibility of watching a beautiful and almost poetically awkward romance blossoming for the Alpha and Omega in front of their eyes if they stayed around long enough. Yet now Changmin was trapped in a prison of his own agreement, with no chance of escape without a backlash on a national scale. No matter what he did, he would come out the bad guy for rejecting Jung _‘perfect-Alpha-with-perfect-hair’_ Yunho, even if he didn’t feel anything for him. He would be at fault for leading the Alpha on, for giving him false hope of a mate and family, he would be the one to face the vindictive wrath of the fandom and probably face exile like he were infertile and unclean.

His own experience was part of the reason he’d been so wary when he’d found out about Seungri’s prospective duet with Youngbae. Not necessarily about Youngbae himself, he didn’t consider the small Alpha to be anywhere as pressuring or insistent as Yunho—even though recent events had caused his opinion on the Alpha to alter slightly—but about the concept of a couple. The concept was nothing more than a metaphorical shackle, chaining Seungri to Youngbae’s side permanently, even long after the duet was over, Seungri appearing as the Omega Youngbae longed to claim as his own would follow him to the end of his career and beyond and Changmin didn’t want his best friend to face the same issues he already faced himself.

Hearing a discrete cough in his ear from the earpiece left behind after their live performance, Changmin risked a small glance off stage to where Kyuhyun was stood, the backstage communicator held to his mouth. Realising he had the Omega’s attention, Kyuhyun gestured for him to pay attention, fingers moving in a long since developed system of code between the pair of them, telling him to try and get his own word in to the MC and not to sit there like some passive submissive.

Nodding slightly, Changmin reached to rub at his ear lobe for a moment, the sign to say he understood, before he returned his focus to the interview. Yet every time he managed to get a word in edgeways in an attempt to answer the MC, Yunho was there to talk over him. Even as the MC started directing his questions towards Changmin as much as he was to Yunho, the Omega could feel his irritation rising steadily from his gut as Yunho kept butting into his sentences. Literally speaking over him every time he opened his mouth, or constantly cutting him off by making Changmin physically jerk as he cupped the back of his neck, pet his thigh slightly too high for comfort or worst of all, tugged at his ears.

Just as Changmin had, had enough and viciously slapped Yunho’s hand off his thigh with a worryingly audible crack, the MC turned back to the audience and brought the show to a close, the Omega taking the opportunity to get to his feet and bow to the cheering audience, barely waiting until the cameras had been turned off before he was marching off the stage. Sensing the black cloud feuding over his friend-and-technically-employers head, Kyuhyun quickly backed out of the way as Changmin stormed past, the Omega not even pausing to spare the Beta his usual smile before he was barging through the gathered staff like a vengeful archangel heading off to war.

Yet before he could make to head after him, Kyuhyun yelped slightly as he was shoved hard in the back and sent crashing into the scaffolding sides of the studio set and the poor unsuspecting staff still recovering from Changmin’s wrath. Apologising profusely as he got to his feet and tried to help the smallest staff member to their own at the same time, Kyuhyun barely had time to look round to see who had pushed him, before he spotted Yunho forcing his way into the dressing room the angry Omega had locked himself in moments previous.

Sprawled across the rather distressed looking leather sofa in their dressing room, Changmin sighed behind the velvet cushion he’d placed over his face the moment he’d landed in his current position to scream some of his frustrations into. He was never one to let his emotions get the better of him unless it was something so overwhelming he had no chance to scrabble at the barricades to secure them before the tirades washed over him, and Yunho chipping away at his temper never fell into such a specific category. After all the years of performing, living and training with the Alpha, and dealing with his less than subtle behaviour, there wasn’t a lot Changmin couldn’t handle by himself. Yet with his concerns over Seungri whirring round his mind, Yunho’s recent behaviour had only been the added extra needed to tip him over the edge and Changmin was almost ashamed to feel the edge of his eyelashes starting to clump together from his unshed tears.

So caught up in the disbelief at how easily Yunho’s actions had gotten to him this time, the Omega didn’t register the door to the dressing room being forced open, or the slow click of shoes as they padded across towards where he lay. And it wasn’t until long slender fingers slid tenderly into the long curls atop his head, did Changmin even realise he was no longer alone. Assuming it was Kyuhyun coming to check on him after his dramatic exit off stage, the Omega sighed and melted into the touch, ignoring the sniff that escaped from his lips behind the pillow in a bubble of weakness.

“I’m okay Kyu-hyu. He just got to me with everything that’s happened lately.” Changmin muttered, hand moving from the velvet pleats of the cushion to curl around his friend’s wrist beside his hair. However, as his fingers moved over the rather thick and powerful wrist joint connecting a rough, solid palm and a taught, toned forearm, Changmin felt his breath catch in panic. It wasn’t Kyuhyun hovering over him, Kyuhyun’s wrists were slender, to the point of almost delicate like the rest of his appendage—in fact there was only one person who Changmin knew that had such muscular joints.

“ _Kyu-hyu_? Such a cute little pet name for your _pet_ Minnie-yah. Does he have one for you?” at the sudden deep purr close to his ear, Changmin barely had time to try and jerk his head away, before the hand tightened sharply in his hair, nails digging into his scalp as a sudden weight dropped onto his chest, the hand not in his hair moving to pluck the pillow away from his face. Blinking at the sudden onslaught of the artificial light of the dressing room, after spending so long hidden in the shadows of his own making, Changmin winced as he found Yunho straddled across his torso, eyes dark as he smirked. “Does you always use your pet name for him in private? Do you _whimper_ it into his ear while he hoists your legs over his shoulders?”

“I—what the hell are you on about?!” Changmin snarled, hips bucking as he thrashed, trying to upset the Alpha from his perch, hands grabbing at the solid wrist connected to his hair, desperately trying to untangle the warm fingers from his locks. “Get off me! You’re going to end up ripping my hair out!”

“No. You do know what I’m talking about Minnie.” Yunho hissed, letting go of Changmin’s hair as requested and swiftly clamping his fingers round the Omega’s wrist in the same fluid moment, barely finishing his sentence before he had both the younger’s scrabbling wrists in the vice-like grip of one of his hands. “I saw the little signals you kept sending each other today, just like every other day.”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Changmin spat, doubling his efforts to escape despite the fact his arms were bent at an odd angle over the arm of the sofa, eyes starting to sparkle with the possibility of real fear.

“I saw you both. I always see you both. Do you think I’m that stupid not to know what the pair of you are capable of Changmin? Do you think I don’t know what your little coded messages to Seungri and _Kyu-hyu_ mean?” Yunho growled back, shifting slightly to press a knee into Changmin’s stomach, delighting in the way the Omega visibly spluttered, chest heaving as he tried to breathe normally.

“W-We don’t have any codes…I-I don’t know what you’re on about!” Changmin barely managed to pant, breathless from the combined efforts to escape and the steadily increasing pressure of the Alpha’s knee into his ribcage. “G-Get off me!”

Staring wide eyed up at the man who, for all point and purpose, was knelt on his ribcage, Changmin felt the cold tendrils of fear secure its hold around his body, threatening to snap his fighting spirit the longer he remained at Yunho’s mercy. He had never seen the Alpha like this before. Sure, Yunho had often tried to climb onto him when he’d sprawled exhausted across the sofa in their apartment after a long days schedules, but a swift knee to the spine or a shove had always easily dislodged him. This was new, this was painful and this was very real in the terms of danger. He’d heard horror stories about Alphas snapping and murdering an Omega because they were repeatedly rejected or couldn’t accept the Omega was already bonded to another, but as much as Yunho obsessed over him, Changmin had never envisioned the Alpha he spent so many years training beside would ever do something like that to him.

“Don’t _insult_ me further Changmin!” Yunho suddenly snapped, voice dropping dangerously into an almost incoherent growl as his fingers twitched around Changmin’s wrists. “You and that disgusting excuse for a Beta you hire are trying to publicly ridicule me, and that little idiot friend of yours is in on the game.”

“Don’t you—don’t you _dare_ insult my friends to me!” Changmin wheezed, gaining a second wind of strength as his anger boiled. No one insulted Kyuhyun or Seungri in front of Changmin and got away with it, not even Yunho who was currently trying to make him as uncomfortably sore as possible.

“And don’t you dare insult _my_ intelligence you little slut!” Yunho bellowed, face dropping rapidly, all but pushed up against Changmin’s own, spraying the Omega’s skin with spittle as he roared, eyes dilated almost madly before his tongue peeked out the corner of his pale lips to lap delicately at Changmin’s jawline, the gently action completely superfluous to soften the harsh bite of his words. “I bet you’ve been under that Beta every moment possible haven’t you? Or does he fuck you rough? Is that what you prefer?”

Grimacing at the wet stripe against his jaw, the air instantly starting to cool the saliva into his skin, Changmin turned his head away as best he could, weakly struggling to escape both physically and mentally. He could feel his cheeks starting to flush from the combined vulgarity of Yunho’s words and the anger at blatant disrespect for those closest to him. All he could hope was that he was able to distract Yunho long enough for Kyuhyun or their Manager to turn up to take them home and find them like this, then the company would be unable to deny that Changmin was in very real danger within Yunho’s presence, and in turn couldn’t deny his requests for at least his own place to live.

“I bet that’s what you prefer isn’t it Minnie?” Yunho continued, voice turning sickly sweet once more as he peppered open mouthed kisses across Changmin’s neck, apparently ignorant to the Omega’s knees as they ruthlessly slammed into his back. “I bet you crave to be taken roughly against the wall like the slut you are don’t you? Does Seungri join in? Do the pair of you worship your Beta pet’s little cock? Is that why the three of you are always together, maybe I should warn Youngbae-sshi what he’s getting into. But given how things have been, he probably knows. I hope he got himself tested after being near that mouth.”

“W-What?” Changmin choked, forcing himself to ignore most of Yunho’s words as his final comment rang alarm bells in the back of his head. No one was supposed to know about how the past couple of weeks had been for their rival companies’ artists. He and Kyuhyun were the only non-YG members who knew what had happened to Seungri, and more importantly, no one but they were supposed to know about Youngbae kissing the little Omega. “H-How…how do you…?” Changmin managed to gasp amidst his exhaustive struggles.

“I told you not to insult my intelligence Minnie-yah. I know all about your little friend and his drama—I, “ Yunho began, and that was all Changmin needed to erupt, cutting him off mid-sentence.

“I don’t know what you’re on about! How dare you speak about Seungri like that! You disgust me, do you hear?! You. Disgust. Me. I will never be your bonded! I hate you!” Changmin yelled, some distant part of his mind registering a distressed thumping at the door as someone tried to get in.

Yet as he paused for breath mid-rant, the knee to his chest vastly depleting his ability to breathe, Changmin wasn’t prepared for the hand clutching the pillow to lift, or for Yunho—whose features had darkened and cooled into a terrifyingly blank slate—to use it to smack him across the face as hard as his arms allowed in such a confined space. The smack was nowhere near enough to cause any kind of damage, but it did disorientate the Omega enough to stop him struggling. Stop him long enough for Yunho to let go of his wrists and bring his hand back round so both wrapped around the pillow as he brought it down over Changmin’s face once more and pressed his full weight onto it.


	7. He Whispered a Desperate Mantra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who commented and left Kudos on this durin the horribly large hiatus I ended up inadvertently taking. It wasn't intentional but unfortunately events occurred and the depression I was writing this to self medicate with flared up worse. And then I got an offer to go work in China teaching English for six months. So a lot has happened and I just didn't have the mentality and then the time to update this. But thank you to everyone who kept coming despite the long time between updates, and now I have another update for you. Thank you once again. You really have helped to get me writing again.

Taking another deep shuddering breath through gritted teeth, Kyuhyun quickly shook his arm to try and remove at least _some_ of the rapidly blossoming pain from his shoulder before he tensed and squared them once again and threw himself at the locked doorway. Around him various other members of staff were caught amidst the drama that was developing—whether willingly or not—some foolishly trying to grapple and hold him back from his attack on the doorway Yunho had locked a few minutes ago, whilst others simply cowered scared seeing such a violent display from the Beta who had gained a reputation of being as cool and stand-offish as Changmin himself.

The moment Kyuhyun had watched Yunho force his way into the dressing room; fists balled, and eyes burning in possessive anger, he had felt a nauseous lump solidify in his throat. A lump—that as he’d swiftly abandoned the staff member he’d been apologising to and raced to try and open the dressing room door, only to find it locked—he’d quickly swallowed down and felt it wrap around his chest in panic. He had tried to reason with himself, Yunho often got pissed that his attempts at affectionate wooing always fell flat, even more so when Changmin’s famously sharp tongue came out to play and verbally slapped him in the face with flat out rejection. But stood outside that dressing room, all Kyuhyun had been able to focus on was the night at his apartment nearly two weeks ago when Yunho had finally snapped and physically grabbed hold of the Omega, hard enough to leave a smattering of almost bruises along the delicate shape of Changmin’s wrist.

The Beta had always privately wondered how much of Changmin’s constant rebellion and rejection Yunho would put up with before he snapped, but whenever he’d tried to voice his concerns to the Omega Changmin had simply scoffed and rolled his eyes all whilst loudly declaring that he wanted him to hurry up and do so, so the Omega would have an excuse to do some damage of his own. Kyuhyun had chuckled nervously and agreed each time. Being an Omega if Changmin had responded to Yunho’s more vulgar suggestions physically, he would have been the one in trouble for trying to make a show of the Alpha, but self-defence was another matter entirely.

Kyuhyun had been quite content to stand with his ear pressed against the door, ignoring the other staff members chastising him for trying to eavesdrop on a private moment, not even bothering to attempt his usual rebuffle that the pair of them weren’t _actually_ a couple, since most of the country liked to assume otherwise. Yet the moment he’d heard the start of their argument, their voices raised so loudly that his ear against the wooden barricade had been unnecessary, Kyuhyun’s concern had reared its head again and he’d started pounding his fists in the poor abused doorway in hopes that his incessant attempts to interrupt would anger Yunho enough to distract the attention away to himself.

He hadn’t started to physically throw himself at the room entrance until he’d heard Changmin’s final yell of hatred and hadn’t heard a response from the Alpha. The sudden blanketed silence over the whole area was what was terrifying him the most, if neither of them were even speaking then it didn’t bode well for the situation. Once Changmin was on a verbal tirade there wasn’t a lot that could break him out of it that quickly unless he was restrained from being able to speak at all, and whilst when Kyuhyun took that role on it normally involved a gentle hand over the mouth—sometimes accompanied with a pinch to his nose if he still fought to speak—Kyuhyun knew that Yunho would not resort to such simple methods to do so. In fact, Kyuhyun was convinced Yunho would probably use his own mouth to cover Changmin’s own; it would certainly explain why there was suddenly no noise from either of them, but the Beta knew well enough that such a move would not be appreciated or consented and that set a fire blazing in his stomach and had led to the first bodily based throw against the door.

It had been a few minutes now since the dressing room had gone silent, and Kyuhyun was starting to get frantic. His entire right side was going numb and rapidly losing what little strength he possessed, but he couldn’t give up, he’d had enough in the past two weeks of the Omega’s in his life being thrust into emotionally and physically uncomfortable situations and this time he was around to do something about it.

By now, the staff members who had originally tried to stop him from interrupting had given up and were all stood around almost morbidly curious as to why everything had suddenly gone silent, a few that had been on the TV channels rota for longer and had, had more exposure to the pairs behaviour starting to show signs of their own concern. But even so, none of them stepped forward to aid the desperate Beta as he continued to hurt himself in the name of his oldest friend.

“CHWANG! Chwang! Changmin!” Unable to physically do anything more than bump against the doorway now, Kyuhyun had taken to slamming his left fist against the wood and yell for his Omega to answer him or open the door, anything to lighten the lead weight pushing its way through his gut and steadily mangling his insides. Something was seriously wrong, even if Yunho had kissed Changmin to shut him up, by now either the Omega would have attempted to bite his tongue off and yelled out to him, or Yunho would have had to breathe and given Changmin the opportunity to verbally or physically respond in disgust. Yet nothing. And God, if anything was going wrong in there, Kyuhyun couldn’t give up even if he physically collapsed or he’d never be able to face the Omega again.

“Kyuhyun-sshi?!”

So focused on scraping the last of his strength from the bottom of the metaphorical barrel, the Beta didn’t even register the call of his name until it was repeated at a higher volume right against the cartilage once more. Jerking violently, he span round, fist still pounding against the door ready to tell whoever was now attempting to stop him to GO AWAY in the least polite way he could muster, only to stop short. Convinced for a few micro-seconds he was imagining things or had gotten lost in a warped reality in his frantic efforts, Kyuhyun’s fist stopped thumping against the steadily weakening wood as he blinked at the mass of shocking red hair—since when had he had red hair?—sat atop Jiyong’s face contorted slightly in a weird mix of shock, concern and slight horror.

“Kyuhyun-sshi what’s the matter?!” Jiyong tried again, ring heavy fingers raised ready to catch the Beta who looked ready to collapse on him out of combined relief and exertion, only pausing to flick a couple of fingers beckoning behind him before he reached out to try and steady the swaying mass. Watching as Kyuhyun’s gaze flickered from himself to Seunghyun and in turn Seungri’s manager who had moved forward behind him at his gesture, Jiyong managed to get a hold of the Beta’s shoulders; only to quickly let go once again as Kyuhyun hissed in pain, and despite not meaning too, the sudden shock had spurred the younger male into reality once more.

“C-Changmin! I-I can’t get in. Yunho.” Was all Kyuhyun could manage to spit out between sporadic gasps for breath as he tried to get a hold of himself and the pain in his shoulder. Yet it seemed all that was needed as Jiyong’s face darkened in comprehension, his hands once again grabbing onto Kyuhyun—this time mindful of his bad shoulder—and carefully but swiftly moving him out the way as Seunghyun simply strode forward and slammed his incredibly expensive looking, metal capped boot against the wood near the door handle, once, twice, three times, before the door finally groaned and snapped open under the fourth.

Seunghyun, naturally, had fallen through the doorway from his momentum, but Kyuhyun had been remotely surprised in some tiny part of his brain not short circuiting in fear, when Jiyong had simply manhandled him round and pushed him forward in next and followed along with Seungri’s manager.

The dressing room, despite the 6 minutes—had it really only been 6 minutes?—That a quick glance at his watch had confirmed Kyuhyun had spent demanding entry, was almost imposingly silent and still. And at first glance as the adrenaline steadily drained out of his brain, Kyuhyun was nearly convinced it had all been for nothing and he’d unnecessarily dragged more of Seungri’s friends into the situation without any real cause. But as he glanced across at Jiyong who was still holding onto his arms, Kyuhyun noted the way the slender fingers tightened around him, his gaze fixed away from him and blazing with anger he’d only ever heard described from Seungri in hushed, slightly awe-scared tones.

Turning his head, swallowing round his trepidation, to follow Jiyong’s line of sight Kyuhyun felt his knee’s almost buckle out from under him as he spotted Yunho and Changmin on the sofa. Changmin was laid at an odd angle beneath the Alpha as if he’d suddenly stopped mid-thrash, one knee bent and resting against the back of the leather, the other still and against the floor, the same side arm hanging limply, fingers lightly brushing against the carpet as the other was clasped between Yunho’s own. If Changmin’s position and lack of movement hadn’t caused a wave of nausea to almost buckle his knees under him, Kyuhyun knew that Yunho would have had him running for the nearest bin or bucket. At first it had appeared that the Alpha; in his position straddled across the Omega’s chest, had been kissing Changmin and the Beta had assumed his friend had simply given up fighting. But then the soft sniffles and chokes of tears had registered in his mind, and suddenly everything had crashed into him in one giant wave of acknowledgement. Yunho was hunched over Changmin, squeezing, playing and kissing at his fingers as he cried almost brokenly, his free hand gently carding through the thick waves atop the Omega’s head as he whispered a desperate mantra between his tears.

_I’m so sorry._

_I didn’t mean to._

_Please wake up Minnie._

_Don’t leave me._

Kyuhyun’s knees had buckled then as he’d spotted the half-closed, unresponsive eyes of his friend, his lips parted slightly around a final gasp for breath, his pale skin marred with the imprints from the cushion laying forgotten on the floor. And if Jiyong’s quick reactions hadn’t helped guide him at least safely to the floor, Kyuhyun knew he would have gone face first into the flooring.

Changmin was—

No. He couldn’t think like that. He wouldn’t be. Yunho wouldn’t.

Would he?

Shuddering violently with the intensity of his gasp, Kyuhyun barely registered the weak whimper of Changmin’s name that left his lips as his entire world crashed down around him. His mind screamed, _begged_ him to move, to go to Changmin and to do everything possible to open those bright eyes once again, to do everything humanely possible and then some, just to hear his nickname being smiled up at him. But he couldn’t move, even as Jiyong left him where he was and moved forward, even as it took the combined force of Seunghyun and Seungri’s manager to drag the now struggling Yunho off of Changmin’s prone figure. Not even as Jiyong leant over to check something and cursed loudly before rather unceremoniously scrambling up over Changmin’s body on the sofa and swiftly locking his hands together to start compressing against the Omega’s chest, muttering away to himself.

Oh God. He’s trying to get him breathing again.

It was all Kyuhyun could do to stay upright on his knees as the realisation struck him combined with the fact he was watching someone else do the job he’d always promised to do. It was his job to protect Changmin and take care of him, yet when he was needed the most he was left to feel like nothing but a disgusting failure who couldn’t even stand up on his own feet, never mind do what Jiyong was doing.

Behind him, Seunghyun was now sat atop Yunho’s back, holding his arms locked up between his shoulder blades in a position that couldn’t be comfortable, but the younger Alpha couldn’t find it in him to care as it was the only way he could manage to keep a hold of him as Seungri’s manager had rushed off to find the Police and Paramedics that had been summoned by one of the observing staff members.

Jiyong cursed as his hands started to shake from being locked together so tightly, but continued to press against the bottom curve of Changmin’s ribcage, trying to will the effort he was putting into his arms to pass through into the Omega’s body to make him breathe again. He didn’t have time to comprehend the situation, how Kyuhyun was, how Seunghyun and Seungri’s manager were coping with Yunho, all he could afford to focus on was the fact his little Omega’s best friend was currently not breathing and he was the only one who had any ability at that given moment to do anything about that.

He almost missed the slight shift under his last compression, but as he pushed down once again, Jiyong felt his own breath he hadn’t realised he’d started holding release as Changmin’s body suddenly spasmed as he gasped for breath, chest convulsing under his hands as he panicked in his disorientation. As the large eyes snapped open, all blood shot sclera’s and dilated, glazed pupils, Jiyong’s hands quickly shifted to cup round the slender neck and jawline to stop him from moving so much in case he’d sustained more injuries than the obvious, before gently calling his name. Once rewarded with Changmin’s focus on his own face, Jiyong smiled softly, allowing one hand to move and stroke back the hair off the Omega’s forehead as he spoke.

“Changmin.” He stage whispered, not wanting to draw Yunho’s attention to the fact Changmin was alive and awake too early, too relieved himself to bother with any sense of formality. “Just lay still for me, the paramedics are on their way, just take some deep breaths and keep quiet for me okay? And try to stay awake bef—“ was all he managed to get out before the room erupted into action as Seungri’s manager arrived with the public services and Jiyong was all but forcibly dragged off Changmin, and would have been shoved across the room out of the way if Changmin’s hand hadn’t suddenly latched onto the chain hanging from his pants, eyes silently begging him to stay.

A hand that refused to let go as the Paramedics quickly got to work securing the oxygen mask over his face and checking the rest of him before attempting to lift him onto the stretcher they’d brought with them. And a hand that still refused to let go even as the Paramedics moved them back through the now crowded backstage area and out to the ambulance. A hand that only willingly let go when Jiyong settled down beside him in the ambulance and offered him his own fingers—now bereft of their rings—to cling onto instead.

Reclining as best he could in the god-awful plastic chairs hospitals insisted on some two hours later, Jiyong sighed and ran his spare hand across his face, cursing his own idiocy as the rings he’d failed to remove scraped across his face. He wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do, He’d only been allowed along on the journey because Changmin had adamantly refused to let go of him even—a quick glance down to double check what he’d seen earlier was true—managed to break the chain attached to his pants from the intensity of his grip.

Of course once they’d reached the hospital, things had gotten a bit complicated. He wasn’t Changmin’s In-Case-Of-Emergency contact or his next of kin and despite Changmin’s now slightly vocal protests when they tried to prise their fingers apart, the hospital had been adamant he wasn’t to be allowed in while they worked on him. He had been about to try and get Changmin to let go when the Omega had mouthed the words _‘ring Seungri’_ at him and Jiyong had gone scrambling one handed for his phone, regardless of the nurse’s annoyingly nasal voice whining about phone usage policies inside the hospital.

Seungri it seemed, had been informed of the situation during the time it had taken for the journey over in the ambulance and despite his voice being slightly emotionally shaky, had simply answered and asked to be put onto the nurse, apparently already anticipating Jiyong would be having this difficulty.

Jiyong had done just that, and whilst the nurse had grimaced disapprovingly, she had still taken it and started talking to what was apparently Changmin’s next of kin, only talking long enough to ask a few security questions and to take a few details, before swiftly hanging the phone up and turning it off before she even thought about handing it back to Jiyong. Jiyong had snatched it back with his own sneer before his attention was drawn away by the tug on his hand now the hospital had the permission to carry on with Jiyong in proximity.

Once settled and hooked up for observation since the doctors couldn’t seem to find anything initially wrong with Changmin, Jiyong had found himself sat silently at the bedside of an Omega who the facts he knew about them could be counted on one hand. Changmin had fallen asleep moments before hand and Jiyong had finally been able to take his hand back and flex some feeling back into it. Then his eyes had landed on the folder tucked into the end of the hospital bed containing all the observation notes and details needed for the current patient.

He knew he shouldn’t have done it, but Jiyong had gotten up anyway and plucked it free and stood at the end of the bed leaning on the built in moving tray table to read through everything. If anything he might learn something new about the person who seemed to not want to let go of his hand for the foreseeable future and he had kept that thought in mind as he flipped open the first page and started to read.

_Shim Changmin_

_Omega_

_Blood type B_

_D.O.B: 1988.02.18_

_Allergies: Penicillin, Local Anaesthetic._

_Next of Kin: Lee Seungri/ Omega. Contact number: 010-7458-9824_

_ICE Contact: Jung Yunho/ Alpha. Contact number: 011-2390-1781_

Jiyong had taken his time to read the opening page, he’d already discovered four things that he didn’t know about the other; he was the same blood type as Seunghyun, he was exactly six months older than himself and was allergic to two things he’d always heard were incredibly necessarily for a lot of medical situations. But he’d taken one look at the two contacts below his initial details and had growled in annoyance at the sight of Yunho’s name. It was almost ironic that the guy who caused the whole situation was the one the hospital would have normally called in.

Without really considering what he was doing, Jiyong had moved back to the holder at the end of the bed and fished out a pen from its depths before happily scribbling all across Yunho’s details until there was nothing left but a thick ink scribble that nothing could be seen beneath, and once satisfied with his work, Jiyong had quickly penned in a different contact before returning everything to its rightful place and dropping back into his seat in time for Changmin’s hand to search once more for his in his sleep.

_ICE Contact: Kwon Jiyong/ Alpha. Contact number: 010-1993-0302_

And now, here he was, still sat at Changmin’s bedside as comfortably as he could manage while the elder clung onto his hand in his medically encouraged sleep. He could sense eyes burning into the side of his face from the window of the private room that looked out onto the main corridor, but he didn’t look round, he knew already it was Kyuhyun and his eyes were probably more fixated on the Alpha’s hand than his face. Last time he’d looked round to check, Kyuhyun had taken a few moments to realise Jiyong had even turned to look at him he’d been so fixated on the sight of Changmin’s hand clinging to the almost stranger’s.

Jiyong had barely changed the details on the Omega’s file and returned to his seat when he’d almost jerked out of it again in shock at the sudden dull thud of something slamming against glass shattered the silent air. A quick glance round had shown Jiyong that Seungri, clearly desperate in his attempts to check on his best friend had not cared about how fast he was running and eagerly turned as he ran to peer through the window to check everything—or everyone—was still alive. Only to be joined moments later by an incredibly pale Kyuhyun at the window whilst Seunghyun used his slight height to his advantage and peered over their heads, gaze fixed on Jiyong instead silently questioning whether he was okay.

Jiyong had watched from the strange silent bubble that was Changmin’s room as the doctor had appeared and once realising who Seungri was in relation to his patient, had agreed to tell him about the situation, but had put his foot down when anyone else except his next of kin had asked to see him. The Alpha had been able to see the look of resentment in Kyuhyun’s eyes as he peered at him through the window at that moment, something which had carried on until the present moment when Kyuhyun was once again watching them through the window. The Alpha would have happily swapped places with the Beta, but even in his sleep Changmin still refused to let go of his fingers.

“Ji Hyung?” a soft voice suddenly called from the doorway, causing the Alpha to look round, to find Seungri’s head floating from round the dooframe. “Am I okay to come in?”

“Of course you are Ri. Don’t be stupid.” Jiyong hissed back, prompting the Omega to push his way through with his elbow precariously balancing two drinks and a pile of food in his arms and hands as he moved. “Planning a picnic this time?” Jiyong added with a soft smirk, which Seungri rewarded with a slight chuckle as he carefully placed everything on the end table.

“No. But you haven’t eaten all day and then you had to bring Changmin back to—back to here.” Seungri replied, pausing to lick across his lips uncomfortably when he was unable to voice the words he’d originally intended to say. “You need the sugar, you’ve been through a lot yourself.” He added, handing Jiyong his preferred style of Starbucks coffee before taking advantage of the Alpha’s lack of hands to unwrap a sandwich, break a corner of it off and using one hand to pinch Jiyong’s chin, force feed him the piece with the other.

Jiyong for his part let him, face falling into a slight grump as he chewed but it was more for show than actual indignation at Seungri’s actions. He was rather happy with the prospect of food and a hot drink, the Omega was right about his not eating, and his rather impromptu heroics—as much as he hated the fact everyone was calling it that—had taken a lot out of him once he’d finally settled down and had time to comprehend what had happened. And as always, it was Seungri that was the one to notice, or consider the possibility and race to the rescue in a less dramatic way.

“Thanks Ri. I needed this.” Jiyong murmured, sipping elegantly as he could manage at his coffee, letting the younger perch himself carefully against the arm of his chair to carry on feeding him bites of the sandwich between sips. “Where did you find a Starbucks?”

“I made Youngbae Hyung and Daesungie Hyung go to the one down the street for us. I was going to send Seunghyun Hyung, said he could have a smoke etc. on the way…but he was adamant he stayed here.” Seungri replied, making sure to keep his voice softer now he was stood a lot nearer his slumbering friend, falling silent for a few minutes before looking back at Changmin’s prone form. “Seunghyun Hyung told me what had happened…or what he knew from when he arrived since Kyuhyun’s not said a word since you found Changmin.”

“Yeah. He was in a bit of a state when we found him trying to break the door in. And I had to stop him from greeting the ground with his face once we got in there.” Jiyong muttered, not particularly wanting to think over the past day’s events, especially when they’d happened so closely to the fiasco of Seungri’s texting stalker and Youngbae’s indiscretion. He was sick of it all if he was honest and it made him wish for the days when Seungri was too young and cute for anyone to see him as anything other than a fluffy panda-like boy.

“I don’t think Kyuhyun’s particularly happy about how the final arrangements turned out though.” Seungri hummed, sparing a glance at where his Hyung and best friend’s hands were still curled together. “He might not be saying anything, but he seems more relieved that I’m in here for a while this time to keep an eye on you. Even though I originally wanted to stay out there with him.”

“Listen Ri…If…If I could get Changmin-sshi to let go I would swap places with him. I—“ Jiyong started to explain, before Seungri quickly cut him off with a well-timed piece of sandwich again, causing the Alpha to have to chew and eat or risk choking himself.

“I wouldn’t have let you, even if you managed to wriggle your hand free. Only Changmin knows exactly what happened in there. Well, and Yunho but, I don’t particularly want to face him.” Seungri started, Jiyong not missing the slight back roll of the Omega’s eyes as he shuddered lightly. “You were the one who…woke him up, he probably feels safer with you there. And as much as I love Kyuhyun he can wait his turn.”

The pair of them fell quiet for a while, both sipping at their drinks whilst Seungri still continued to feed them both bites of the array of food the two coffee runner’s had brought back with them, content to sit in silence and listen to the distinct sounds of three people breathing, Jiyong all too aware of how close it had come to not being a possibility. Seungri meanwhile simply continued to inwardly shudder, never having expected his proud, strong best friend to be in such a position; betrayed and damaged—admittedly in Changmin’s case it was only _almost_ permanently—by an Alpha who claimed to love and care for him. The whole thing was bringing back unpleasant emotional triggers for the other Omega, and Seungri was having a hard time trying not to wonder just how many times he could have ended up in this situation if he’d let things happen differently in his life.

“So what happens now then?” Jiyong eventually muttered, handing the Omega his finished coffee cup as the younger stood up to clear everything away. “I’ve not exactly heard much being in here.”

“All I know is the Police have taken Yunho away. And they’ve already taken statements from Seunghyun Hyung, Kyuhyun…not that he was much use poor thing…and all the staff members I think? But Yunho will just say that he snapped because Changmin was constantly rejecting him and then leading him on and then flirting with others and it wasn’t his fault he snapped…and he’ll be home before Changmin will be.” Seungri sighed, finally dragging a chair round to sit down next to his Hyung, seemingly sinking into it as he spoke. “Just like every time Yunho says or does something, it’s always Changmin’s fault.”

“Seriously?” Jiyong spat, eyebrow raising over his darkening irises once more as he watched the way the younger Omega slumped almost resignedly as if it had already occurred. “Wait…what do you mean _‘every time Yunho says or does something’_? Has he done something like this before?”

“Not like this. But he’s always been making derogatory comments about him and to him, wandering hands and lewd suggestions. That kind of thing. Worst he ever got was he dragged Changmin by his wrist from Kyuhyun’s once…but that was it. But…every time it was always _‘oh Changmin teases me so much, leads me on and then rejects me, can I be blamed if I behave like this?’_ and of course…no everyone sides with the poor mislead Alpha.” Seungri all but spat back himself, arms crossing almost defensively across his chest as his spoke, knuckles white as he clutched tightly at his biceps.

“But that’s ridiculous, why would it be Changmin’s fault for any of that? Even I know that he doesn’t lead Yunho on and I only ever normally see him briefly at shows. Why would it be his fault Yunho tried to suffocate him?” Jiyong hissed. “That’s just absurd! Blaming an Omega for those kind of actions.”

Yet the moment Jiyong had finished talking, Seungri’s eyes shuttered blank as he turned to face him, one eyebrow raising almost in a mockery of Jiyong’s previous expression, fingers still tight and white-knuckled around his biceps to the point his muscles were starting to develop blood bruises beneath the pinch of his nails.

“Yes, _completely_ absurd. Not as if you’ve _ever_ blamed an Omega for an Alpha’s actions before is it Jiyong Hyung?” Seungri retorted, voice dripping thick with sarcasm as he swiftly rose to his feet and returned the chair to its original location, all the while Jiyong sat gawping, mouth moving silently as he tried to register what had happened for the swift turn in conversation. “Not like an Alpha’s _ever_ gotten too close for comfort to me and you've blamed me is it?”

“Wait! RI…that…” Jiyong spluttered, finally registering what Seungri was on about. He had been so happy enjoying their fond and easy relationship once again, he’d completely disregarded what he’d said to Seungri back in the President’s office a couple of weeks previous. “…You cannot be seriously comparing what happened with Youngbae to Yunho?!”

“NO.” Seungri snapped, voice slightly harsher than Jiyong was used to, the Alpha watching confused as Seungri seemed to mentally go somewhere else for a moment before he full body shuddered and moved away towards the door. “Youngbae is nothing like Y-Yunho. But the fact remains the same. Omega’s get blamed…and then they end up in situations they don’t always have a way out of.”


	8. All The More Precious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is another update! slightly less time for this one. ^^ Anyway. I'm not sure how this chapter is, I feel like it's not very good..It took me a long time to actually be able to write it, so many times I sat to write and just couldn't. As it happens, inspiration hit at 3am and I simply wrote and wrote and its now nearly 7am and I've just finished it. So I apologise if this is bad, but I got something written at least. Hope it's not too bad.

Standing in the corner of the elevator, Seungri tilted his head back against the highly polished, frosted steel panels with a deep exhausted sigh. Eyes slipping closed to ward against the fluorescent overhead lights; he waited for the journey up to the top floor of the apartment block to finish, fingers curled tightly around the gifted set of keys tapping an offbeat agitated rhythm against the handrail. Beside him, Seungri was acutely aware of Youngbae fidgeting almost awkwardly, shifting his weight between his feet in some vain attempt at remaining still. And the Omega knew that should he open his eyes and look over, the Alpha would be hunched in the opposite corner, hands deep in the pocket of his jeans, staring at the ground as if it would yield the answers to the universe if he watched long enough—or at least tell him what to do next.

Seungri had been so caught in the rush to check on the condition of his best friend after he’d received an oddly breathless phone call from Seunghyun some hours earlier, that he hadn’t found the time to be surprised when Daesung had turned up at his door, Youngbae in tow ready to drive him to the hospital. In the face of external conflict, his own issues had seemingly been ignored and on the mad dash towards the hospital, Youngbae had gently intertwined his fingers through Seungri’s own in a silently solid expression of support; the way his thumb had brushed across the joints in his fingers the only thing able to stem the panicked bouncing of the Omega’s knee.

And Youngbae’s hand had stayed locked around his own even as Seungri had all but thrown himself out of Daesung’s car before he’d had chance to turn off the ignition and set off running towards the just visible forms of Seunghyun and Kyuhyun in the doorway. The Alpha had made no protest about being unceremoniously dragged across the back seat and out the opposite door to his own, or even being forced to run before he’d properly gathered himself on the pavement. Youngbae had only let go the moment Seunghyun had gently nudged Kyuhyun and pointed in the direction of the duo barrelling towards them, and had seen—even from a distance—the way Kyuhyun’s eyes had simultaneously lit up at the sight of Seungri and faded in despair now that someone was here to share his pain.

The Alpha had hung back to wait for Daesung, watching silently as Kyuhyun had staggered forward in his desperation to get at his other friend, before Seungri had all but thrown himself at the Beta with a slight bounce to make himself tall enough to get his arms round the elder’s neck without risking an arm to the face, the pair of them barely managing to splutter the other’s name before their fingers were clutching and clawing for an emotional anchor in their joint turmoil.

Seunghyun had come across to join him as Daesung arrived, tucking his car keys into his pocket, the older Alpha’s face sporting a few scratch-induced welts that shone against his unnatural pale tint. And whilst the two friends simply pressed together; Youngbae just able to make out the soft shudder of Seungri’s shoulders as he buried into Kyuhyun’s neck, Seunghyun had gone into detail about what had happened, grimacing as Youngbae’s knuckles had cracked from the force of which he’d clenched his fists together in response.

The rest of the day had been nothing but an emotional blur for the small Omega. From crying into Kyuhyun’s neck as he felt the shoulder of his shirt steadily soaking, to his slight spat with Jiyong as the Alpha’s words had prodded and poked at all the wrong parts of his heart and mind, and Seungri was exhausted in all manners possible. Yet as he’d stomped out of the hospital room, once more on the verge of tears and had quickly span away from his Hyungs and disappeared off up the corridor to barge through into the stairwell; only to collapse against the landing rails and curl up on the floor still clinging to them as he started to sob, it had been Youngbae that had come after him.

As he’d broken down, a mass amalgamation of terror, desperation and hopelessness at the sight of his best friend in the hospital bed after the ordeal Yunho had put him through which could have easily been avoided if only _someone_  had done _something_ ; he hadn’t registered the soft call of his name from behind him. Amongst everything, he had been unable to stop his own memories rising up from the depths he tried to keep them locked in, and he found he knew all too well the fear that would have been coursing through Changmin’s veins in those short minutes. Knew far too personally the fear and desperation, the begging to stop, the confusion as someone trusted turned on you and the knowledge that you were far too weak to fight them off, and that life altering moment he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy, never mind his best friend who he loved dearly.

Youngbae had forgotten all about going back to get one of the others as he’d found Seungri and simply dropped to his knees beside the Omega. And Seungri had been slowly pulled back from his memories as he was lifted away from the railings and gently manhandled round to sob into a warm solid chest, his legs tucked up and over one of Youngbae’s own, one large hand wrapping over his back and round to cup his hip protectively as the other lifted to cradle the back of his head, fingers sinking into his curls securely. The Omega had cried himself out against Youngbae’s chest, barely hearing the soft soothing coos muttered into his hair as he was rocked gently, letting the Alpha’s scent eventually calm him into simple sniffles.

The Alpha’s fingers had gently tipped his chin up, before delicately wiping at his face with the cuff of his hooded jacket, a soft smile shining down at him, eyes dark with an obvious attempt to try and understand what Seungri was going through or to at least support him through it. Then he’d been helped to his feet once he looked as presentable as possible, and without saying another word, Youngbae had lightly kissed his nose before leading him back to the rest of his Hyungs.

That had been over an hour ago, and now, stood in what Seungri felt must have been the slowest elevator in Seoul, everything from that day seemed like it was little more than a warped lucid dream as Youngbae had returned to his awkward avoidance of the Omega.

 Changmin had awoken not long after his return to the group, and unable to find any potential lasting side effects, the Doctors had deemed him well enough to be taken home. Naturally the collected visitors had all vehemently refused to let Changmin go back to the apartment he shared with Yunho, and living with Kyuhyun was out of the question since the still incarcerated Alpha knew where he lived. Bizarrely Jiyong had offered for Changmin to stay with him—much to Seunghyun’s annoyance since he was still cramped up on Seungri’s sofa—yet Kyuhyun had protested so vocally that the Alpha had physically taken a step back in surprise. Naturally that left Seungri, and with Daesung offering to house Kyuhyun so the Beta was never too far away from his best friends, Changmin was discharged and everyone parted ways.

Daesung had set off to take Kyuhyun home to gather his things, Changmin had still felt safer having Jiyong around so the two of them had gone with Seunghyun back to their own apartment complex when they’d deemed it too dangerous for him to go back to his apartment to get his own things. So that had left Seungri and Youngbae, to go with Seungri’s manager to Changmin’s apartment in his place; and with the emotional tirade all but over, Youngbae had retreated back into himself.

As the elevator doors finally parted ways with a soft chime, Seungri sighed and pushed himself away from the handrail and out into the plush-carpeted hallway, turning left and silently strolling off towards where he knew his best friend lived without bothering to check if Youngbae was following him. He didn’t have time to consider what was going on with the Alpha and if he was honest, he didn’t have it in him to care anymore today, Youngbae had been avoiding all contact with him for two weeks now and Seungri had coped, and after doing his duty as a good Hyung, if the Alpha wanted to go back to his previous ways, the Omega was in no state to try and fight it.

Reaching his destination, Seungri quickly punched the key code into the main doorway, waiting for it to beep in acknowledgement before he pulled it open and stepped inside. Kicking off his shoes, Seungri watched in his peripheral as Youngbae followed him a few paces behind, closing the door carefully behind him before turning and bending to take his time removing his shoes. Rolling his eyes at the Alpha’s obvious antics, Seungri simply span silently and shuffled off to the bedrooms, finally using the keys his best friend had given him to unlock the door to Changmin’s bedroom and stepping inside.

“Why does he lock his bedroom door?” suddenly echoed through the silent apartment behind him causing Seungri to jerk slightly in shock as he looked over his shoulder to see Youngbae framed awkwardly in the doorway like he wasn’t sure he was allowed over the threshold.

“Oh, you are talking to me then?” Seungri queried, voice tinted with sarcasm as he paused, tilting his head at the Alpha. “And…after what happened today you still have to ask that question?”

“I—what?” Youngbae stammered, before having the good grace to look away apologetically as he nodded at the obvious answer to his question. “I was never _not_ talking to you Ri.”

“Whatever I—look it doesn’t matter, this is not the time or the place, just stop being a wall ornament and help me pack.” Seungri sighed, turning his attention back to the bedroom as he moved to retrieve the pre-packed bag he knew the other Omega kept sat in the bottom of his wardrobe just in case he ever needed to go somewhere abroad at a moment’s notice.

Wincing slightly at the clipped tone to his Omega’s voice, knowing it was his own fault it was even like that in the first place, Youngbae stepped carefully into the bedroom and glanced around curiously. The room couldn’t be more polar opposite to Seungri’s, whilst Seungri’s was for lack of a better description ‘ _organised chaos_ ’ Changmin’s was neat and pristine to an almost OCD level. Everything was lined up perfectly, from the books and papers piled on his desk set at equal distances either side of the laptop, to last night’s dirty laundry folded and set perfectly in the small square basket sat exactly in the corner of the room. Even the hundreds of small rectangular photographs pinned on the wall above Changmin’s expertly made bed were all set in perfect lines and at exact distances from each other.

Spotting a familiar bright smile in one of the photographs, Youngbae cast a quick glance at where Seungri was buried in Changmin’s wardrobe—colour and style coordinated, his brain quickly supplied—before he moved across to take a closer look. Some of the photos were slightly grainy in quality and had probably been taken on the Omega’s phone, yet a majority of them had a professional sheen to them and looked like they’d been taken from a professional shoot rather than just on a whim. Upon closer inspection, Youngbae realised that the photos were in chronological order of their having been taken; the first one right in the corner one of the few grainy phone photos there, showing Changmin in one of his stage outfits from a concept a few years ago sat smiling gently next to a widely grinning Seungri, the other Omega wearing the old backstage pass lanyard he’d had before debut, dressed in a simple t-shirt, his cheeks still clutching to the last traces of his teenage cuteness.

As his gaze travelled along the rows, Youngbae found himself smiling gently at them. Almost all of the photos had Seungri in them, and the wall was almost like a visual step through the past few years as Seungri slowly matured. The wall was nothing but photos of Changmin with Seungri, the pair of them with Kyuhyun or the odd few with just Kyuhyun and Changmin alone, some of them clearly taken when they’d had a bit too much to drink, yet most were on days out, or nights in, all of them posing or being generally silly but clearly content in each other’s company. Yet one pair of them caused Youngbae to have to quickly stifle a snort as he spotted Changmin and Kyuhyun laughing in a photo, Seungri only visible from his eyes upwards as the pair had clearly refused to crouch for the smaller male, only for the second photo to be an odd angled blur, Changmin’s face caught in one of shock trying to hold onto the camera as Kyuhyun’s hands held onto Seungri who had fallen over and knocked the camera in the process, and Youngbae had just had a mental image of the small Omega trying to stand on his tiptoes only to have overbalanced and knocked everyone flying.

Reaching the end of the wall however, Youngbae found a photo that sat out strangely from the rest. This photo was the last one in the row and a lot darker than the rest of them and the Alpha had to step round the bed closer to the wall to be able to tell what it was. Once close enough, Youngbae found it suddenly difficult to swallow as his throat swelled around an emotional lump, fingers trembling as he quickly flicked his gaze over his shoulder to make sure Seungri was still preoccupied before carefully tugging the photo off the wall. Settled in the centre of the frame, was Seungri on his own fast asleep in bed, the sheets pooled down to his waist from where he’d been shifting in his sleep. The Omega was curled up on his side, one hand tucked into a loose fist, cutely cradled against his mouth, the other draped across the mattress, fingers dipping over the edge into mid-air towards the camera. The whole photo was an odd hue from the soft early light filtering in from where he knew the window was situated, casting a strangely ethereal glow over Seungri’s pale skin, and turning the black of his thick, sleep-matted curls into a shimmering midnight blue. His curls were sitting across his brow, his long eyelashes even visible in the photo as they rested against the peak of his cheekbones, and Youngbae was struck with such a vast urge to reach into the photograph and brush the curls away from his forehead and tuck the sheets back round him.

Turning the photo over simply out of curiosity, Youngbae felt the lump in his throat sink into his stomach and turn into nausea as he spotted the date meticulously written in the corner in what he assumed was Changmin’s handwriting. The photo had been taken the night or morning after he’d ruined everything, when he’d stupidly kissed Seungri in the stairway and had to listen to Jiyong accuse him of being about to violate the little Omega. He had vague recollections of their President asking Seunghyun to contact Daesung so he could get in contact with Changmin and Kyuhyun, but had pushed it to the back of his mind as an unimportant part of that scenario. Clearly Changmin had been with him all night watching over him and then taken the photo when he’d seen the setup.

Flipping back to the actual photograph, Youngbae regarded it in a different light this time, curled up as he was Seungri looked so lonely, so sad and confused and he wasn’t even awake, the way he’d tussled with his bedsheets didn’t speak of general movement, but a night of disturbed, uneasy sleep, the way his arms wrapped around himself—whilst still cute—now looked like a sign of self-defence against anything that would possibly come for him in the dark. And in that one moment, Youngbae both hated and adored the photograph, just as he both hated himself for being the reason why his Omega had been sleeping so fitfully, yet was swelling with a desire to wrap the Omega up and never let such an image be possible again. Hearing a slight noise as Seungri started to stand up from his knelt position in front of the wardrobe, Youngbae quickly snapped out of it and went to return the photo to the wall, before pausing and changing his mind, the photo disappearing carefully into the deep back pocket of his jeans, moving slightly so it looked like he was studying a photo of the three friends out by the Han River.

“Changmin loves photography.” Seungri breathed softly, stepping up beside him to look as well. “He always brings his camera everywhere with him. These are just his favourites though, he has about six boxes full of photographs he keeps collected under his bed.”

“T-They’re all really good.” Youngbae muttered, turning slightly to face Seungri and in turn keep the photo filled pocket out of Seungri’s potential line of sight. “You all look like you’re enjoying yourselves.”

“We were. When it’s just the three of us, there’s no image to uphold, no Alpha’s to watch out for, we can just be ourselves and enjoy time spent together.” Seungri replied softly after taking a moment to blink at Youngbae as if he’d not expected him to answer. “Sometimes the good memories are all you can cling to when the bad times come along. And if you can’t create and preserve good memories, how can you be strong enough to pull through the bad? Or…at least that’s what Changmin says.”

“Ri? Can…I know you said this wasn’t the time or the place but…can we talk?” Youngbae forced himself to ask, hastily trying to rub his hands against the side of his jeans discreetly as they started to dampen from nerves. “Please?” he pleaded in an added attempt to play on Seungri’s kind-hearted persona.

“What about though Bae Hyung? You go and ki—do that to me, and then you don’t speak to me for two weeks, you refuse to see me, even going as far as to slam a door in my face. Then it takes my best friend ending up in hospital and for me to have a breakdown for you to even come near me and touch me or speak to me. And then on the way here you go right back and can’t even look at me.” Seungri hissed, words steadily rising in tone and volume as the hurt dug its way into his heart once again at the memory.

It took Youngbae a few moments to gather himself enough to respond, his instinct was telling him to back down, to look away, yet his brain was quite loudly yelling that to do so would be stupid and only drive a bigger wedge between them, the pair of them had always been close and Youngbae had never been uncomfortable or concerned about holding the Omega close, touching his hair, tweaking his nose gently or just generally enjoying the close contact friendship they’d settled into. His heart however, wanted nothing more than to move forward and hug the Omega so tight they’d run the risk of merging together, anything as long as it took the painful tone out of Seungri’s voice.

“I was scared.” He croaked finally, giving into temptation and glancing down at his feet for a moment before he forced it back up again to find Seungri blinking confused at him. “Ji was…throwing a lot of accusations around that day…and, I was scared that after being given time to think over it, you’d come to the same conclusion.”

“But…I’ve said before that I trust you Hyung. The only person who thought that way was Ji Hyung, Seunghyun Hyung never did…he told me he wasn’t happy with what you did, but that he knew you’d have never done anything like Ji Hyung was insinuating.” Seungri sighed, biting into his lower lip nervously as he tried to keep eye contact with the Alpha and not look away overwhelmed.

“I know you have, but that was before I forced myself on you like that. When you turned up at my apartment that morning, I assumed you’d come to tell me to stay away from you, that the President was cancelling the duet and that I wasn’t going to be allowed within a certain distance of you for your own safety. I’m not strong enough to handle hearing that Ri, I convinced myself It was better to just avoid it at all costs then to face it and try to work through it.” Youngbae muttered, taking a tentative step closer to the Omega. “Then, Ji came to see me and told me the pair of you had made up…and I assumed that was it, you’d sided with Ji and that was that.”

“I came to see you that morning to apologise.” Seungri answered, taking his own step closer, wanting so desperately to be nearer to the man who’d brought him back from his memories earlier in the day and held him so safely. “I thought if I apologised to you and Ji Hyung for being the cause of your friendship suffering, that you’d both apologise to each other. I never agreed with anything Ji Hyung said about you.”

“Nothing? At all?” Youngbae questioned almost tentatively, fingers lifting instinctively to tuck a curl behind Seungri’s ear as he shook his head in response.

“I told Ji Hyung that when I ended up seeing him. You wouldn’t do anything like that, you were just trying to shock me out of it or whatever, but that he was wrong for saying those things to you and he needed to apologise to you.” Seungri hummed, smiling shyly as Youngbae’s fingers brushed round the shell of his ear as they moved his hair.

“I just…I didn’t know what to do, you looked so…broken, and I couldn’t fix you. You were so upset, and I thought it was because of me and what I’d done during filming and I just wanted to stop you looking so sad. All I could hear running round my head was Ji’s voice, telling me I was confusing you, showing you up in front of the staff, making you seem cheap and pushing you into things you didn’t want.” Youngbae explained, unable to prevent himself from shuddering at the implications once again, still clearly affected by his oldest friend’s words even two weeks later. “I just wanted to show you that it wasn’t like that, that I _do_ care for you, show you that you’re special and precious and I would never do anything to hurt you…but…I panicked and all I could think would work was to kiss you.”

“I always assumed it was something similar to that Hyung.” Seungri smiled, stepping forward and wrapping his arms round the Alpha’s waist tightly, squeezing him into a long overdue hug, unable to stop himself from squirming contently as Youngbae eagerly clutched back at him, hand once again cradling against the back of his head protectively, the pair of them staying locked together for a few moments before separating. “I told Ji Hyung you weren’t interested in me that way and he didn’t believe me! But I knew I was right.”

As Seungri giggled and turned away, bending to grab Changmin’s bags before setting off towards the doorway, the Omega missed the sudden look of pain that snapped across Youngbae’s face as if he’d just been jabbed in the stomach without warning, his fingers physically clutching at his chest for a moment before he raced to keep up with the Omega.

“Wait Ri I—“ he started, managing to catch Seungri around the wrist currently supporting the bags he was carrying. Yet anything he’d been about to say in denial to the Omega’s last statement was lost as Seungri glanced round at him, eyes large and innocent, shimmering lightly with a relief and contentment with his current situation that the Alpha had not seen for a long time. And although it caused his stomach to twist in self-loathing rage, Youngbae simply smiled and slipped his fingers down to the handles of the bags. “I’ll carry these hmm?”

“Ah! Thanks Hyung.” Seungri smiled, letting go and moving so Youngbae could go out the door, before following and locking up securely. “Let’s go back home then, I want to get Changmin settled into my apartment before I can fully relax after today.”

“Come on then Ri.” Youngbae muttered, moving to step into his shoes, waiting until the Omega had done the same before carefully taking one smaller hand into his own free one and lead him back out the apartment and off towards the elevator once more.

With the bags safely situated in the back of the car, Seungri climbed into his seat and smiled brightly as Youngbae slid in next to him, not missing the quick glance and bright smile from his manager up front as he relaxed into the Alpha’s side while they were driven home.

“So…are we okay now then Hyung?” Seungri whispered against the Alpha’s shoulder, eyes closed to enjoy the long missed sensation of Youngbae playing with the curls atop his head, all but purring every time those long fingers slid down to stroke at his nape and along his hairline up round behind the curve of his ear.

“That’s up to you Ri, you’re the one who was treated unfairly, it’s your decision as to whether I’m forgiven or not.” Youngbae replied softly, nose buried slightly in the ebony locks atop Seungri’s head so he got a soft waft of the Omega’s unique scent every time he inhaled, his insides screaming with delight as he realised just how much he’d missed this. Seungri always smelled so different to other Omegas and he adored it—well, he adored Seungri full stop, and had done since the moment he met the tiny, skinny little 14 year old boy—it was unique to his Omega and was just part of the package that was Seungri, when other Omegas tried to show off their scents, some even resorting to using specifically designed perfumes to enhance them, Seungri almost tried to hide his away, which to Youngbae made every rare tendril of Seungri’s slightly spiced scent that he managed to catch all the more precious.

“There is nothing to forgive you for Hyung. I just want you and Ji Hyung to be back friends again and for us to be back to how we used to be.” Seungri breathed softly eyes slipping closed, far too content in such a secure safe hold after the whirlwind of a day to bother overtaxing his mind with any kind of concerns for the way Youngbae’s nose disappeared into his hair. “If that happens, I can forgive you for shutting the door in my face okay?”

“Sure thing Ri, anything you say.” Was all Youngbae managed to reply as his eyes fell shut as well, taking every effort to enjoy the current moment as much as he could before their journey ended and they had to return to everyone’s—especially Jiyong’s—monitoring gazes. Neither of them registering when they stopped at the traffic lights long enough for Seungri’s manager to look back at them, smiling fondly at the pair curled up together before taking a sly photo and sending it to their President.

_Everything seems to be back to normal._

And as they continued to drive, Seungri’s manager took a slight detour to give the pair of them longer to just relax and be close after the past day’s fiasco, and the past few weeks of negativity and disruption. His phone flashing from the seat next to him a few minutes later, showing he’d gotten a response from President Yang.

_Good. Let them have their moment, Seungri deserves it after everything he’s been through. Keep an eye on him for me as always._

_Agreed. And I always do. He’s special to us all._

President Yang simply smiled at the response from the man who’d personally requested to be Seungri’s manager and unofficial bodyguard before turning his attention back to the photo he’d received once again, his smile only growing as he gazed fondly at the way Youngbae so clearly but probably subconsciously sat possessively and protectively curled around their little Omega, an Omega who was visibly relaxed in such a close proximity to someone in a way he’d never seen before. And he only paused to look at it for another few moments before he forwarded the photo onto Jiyong before going back to his work.

_I think you need to have a long hard look at the way you view things Jiyong. I hope today has taught you something._

“Seungri? Youngbae? We’re back now.”

“Hmm?” Youngbae slurred, blinking back into reality after zoning out, lost in the feel of Seungri’s warm frame curled up against and around him, smiling slightly as he found Seungri’s manager leant over the back of the front seat, grimacing almost apologetically at him before it registered they’d stopped and were back in the underground carpark of their own complex. “Oh, thanks Hyung.”

“We back already?” Seungri all but whined as he sat up, stretching as best he could in the confines of the car, shivering slightly at the lack of heat around him all of a sudden.

“Yeah, come on. Let’s get inside and then you can help Changmin-sshi get settled at yours.” Youngbae replied, reluctantly sliding out of the car and heading round to where Seungri’s manager was already pulling the bags out of the trunk for them, passing them off to the Alpha before turning to adoringly ruffle Seungri’s mass of ruffled curls. “Come on Ri, I think you could do with a rest after today.”

Nodding softly, Seungri shuffled after the Alpha as they walked towards the elevator, pausing only to turn and wave at his manager as he stopped when he received a message and turned to head back to his car saying he was needed in the President’s office and they should go on without him.

“I…I wanted to say thank you Hyung.” Seungri muttered as they rode the elevator up to Seungri’s floor, Youngbae turning to frown confused as the Omega stood twisting his fingers together nervously. “For when you came today…w-when I was in the stairway.”

“Oh, Ri. You don’t need to thank me for that.” Youngbae smiled, reaching out with his free hand to gentle untangle Seungri’s slightly trembling fingers, tugging them between his own until the Omega was forced to follow them into Youngbae’s side, the journey up this elevator a polar opposite to their previous one. “You’ve had a lot to cope with lately, and I wasn’t there to look after you. But I will be from now on okay? I promise.”

“Okay, but still, thank you Hyung. I needed that today.” Seungri responded, rewarding Youngbae with a soft shy smile as they reached the designated floor, not bothering to retrieve his fingers as they exited the elevator and headed off towards Jiyong and Seunghyun’s apartment where Changmin was currently waiting for their return. And when Seungri refused to let go, even as Jiyong let them in, eyes fixated on their fingers, Youngbae found he couldn’t bring himself to mind.

And sometime later, as Youngbae finally returned to his own apartment on the floor below, having helped Seungri carry the bags back to his apartment whilst the Omega clung to his best friend, the Alpha allowed himself to slump across his bed. With more effort than it should have taken, Youngbae retrieved the photo from his back pocket and smoothed it out, smiling gently at the sleeping bundle of curls, fingers stroking reverently across the printed image of Seungri’s face before he tucked it under his pillow and curled up, nose buried in the material of his own shirt as he tried to savour the last few traces of Seungri’s scent clinging to his clothes, feeling more alone now then he had in weeks.


	9. AUTHOR NOTE

HI.

I'm not dead. I haven't forgotten about this.

All I can do is apologise for how long this has been since I updated. I don't even know if anyone is going to be noticing this anymore, but I once again apologise for how long its been since I updated.

Since I updated I was busy working in China, then I came back to my home country and then returned to University. I was in my final year which meant final exams, a huge dissertation/thesis to do and on top of all that I was once again struggling with my mental health. I was left with no inspiration what so ever, no matter what I tried. Then after University I started working, so I was working long days and just..too exhausted to do anything after work. Then I've had a couple of accidents, I tore the tendons in my knee cap which left me on crutches, full of strong painkillers and needing a lot of physiotherapy. Then...I had another accident and tore the muscle in my shoulder which...again needed recovery, pain killers and help to work again. Then It was straight back to work...Then...alongside all this, there's been a lot of personal issues with my mental health, family problems with my grandparents health and I've also lost a close friend of mine, an uncle and I found out my auntie has a year or so left...so writing has been the last thing on my mind, or i've been in such a state i've not been able to get anything done.

If anyone is still following this and commenting and leaving Kudos etc. All i can say is thank you, I'm so so sorry for things getting so left behind. If anyone is still interested in this fic, I WILL be continuing it soon, and all things well, I will be keeping on top of it as best as I can.

Again, all i can do is apologise. I will be continuing this fic anyway, even if noone reads it. But just...It got to a point where Im finally getting inspiration back, and It was only when i went to check on where i was up to plot wise that it hit me "god I've not updated this in over 2 years."

Again, thank you for the love this has received even though i haven't updated in such a long time, and I hope I can get back to writing again.

\- Rin x


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